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More industry leaders have warned that factories could close this winter as soaring energy costs eat into profitability. They said the production of items and materials ranging from toys, clothes, chocolate, paper, glass, lime, cement, ceramics and chemicals is on the line. A worst-case scenario could see steel plants close for good. The business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng met with representatives of energy-intensive trades who said electricity costs were up five times on normal levels. Taking aim afterwards, UK Steel’s Gareth Stace said the government has done ‘nothing’ to alleviate the crisis. By contrast, he claimed several European governments were investing...

LONDON (Reuters) -The British steel industry's lobby group warned on Monday of an impending crisis due to soaring wholesale energy prices which could force plants into expensive shutdowns, stoke emissions and sow chaos through supply chains. A shortage of natural gas in Europe had sent prices for electricity and gas soaring, triggering sharp rises in the prices paid by people heating their homes or for major heavy industrial plants smelting steel. "These extraordinary electricity prices are leading to smaller or wiped-out profits and thus to less reinvestment," UK Steel, which lobbies on behalf of the British steel industry, said in...