Royal Navy shipbuilder in limbo owing to cash shortage at Liberty Steel plant

Call for UK state to step in after Gupta-owned Dalzell works in Scotland unable to produce metal for three new warships

A shipbuilder for the Royal Navy faces an uncertain wait for the steel to build three warships because of a shortage of cash at the Scottish steel mill that has won the contract.

Liberty Steel Dalzell in Scotland has been unable to start production in earnest because there is no cashflow to buy slab", despite an order to supply 34,000 tonnes of metal plates to build fleet solid support (FSS) ships for the navy, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation.