THE British steel industry is “far from out of the woods,” the GMB union has warned, after winding-up petitions on Liberty Steel were retracted on Monday.

HM Revenue and Customs has withdrawn petitions to close four Liberty Steel companies owned by British businessman Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance metals empire. 

The group, which said it had made a “further significant injection of shareholder capital” alongside restructuring and refinancing programmes, has been struggling since the collapse of its main lender Greensill Capital last year.