Britain's energy-intensive manufacturers, including producers of steel, glass, ceramics, and paper, have warned the government that they may have to halt production if nothing is done to face rising wholesale gas prices.

Wholesale gas prices have risen 400% this year in Europe, partly due to low inventories and strong demand from Asian importers, which has put particular pressures on energy-intensive industries.

Industry heads held talks on Friday with Business Minister Kwasi Kwarteng but said those talks ended without immediate solutions.

"If the government doesn't take any action, then basically what we will see for the steel sector is more and more pauses of production at certain times of the day," Gareth Stace, Director General of UK Steel, told ITV News.

Johnson pledged sweeping economic reforms

Earlier, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged sweeping economic reforms that would stop the UK economy's dependence on cheap foreign labor.

Johnson's words came amid a crisis facing Britain with various repercussions - the most prominent of which was the rush of people to gas stations, in addition to the disappearance of a number of goods from the shop shelves, which in turn issues threats of difficulties next Christmas.