Tata Steel UK chief raises 'serious question marks' over future of Port Talbot plant

Bimlendra Jha says the Government would probably have to do more to help firm find a buyer

Mr Jha's comments come as a serious blow to the Business Secretary Sajid Javid (Getty)

The head of Tata Steel UK has cast further doubt over the future of the Port Talbot steel plant in Wales and said the Government would probably have to do more to help the firm find a buyer.

In a blow to the Business Secretary Sajid Javid, who will give evidence to MPs on his handling of the UK steel crisis on Thursday, Bimlendra Jha said there were “serious question marks about the viability of Port Talbot”.

Appearing before the House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, Mr Jha, CEO of Tata UK, said that no buyer would be found unless the company’s £15bn pension liability was addressed. The Government has said it is looking at the pension scheme, which any buyer would have to inherit, to see if it could be separated from the business.

In a gloomy assessment of the future of the UK steel industry, Mr Jha said there were “structural disadvantages" in the UK that made business unprofitable, singling out energy costs, which he said compared unfavourably with other European countries including Germany.

The company announced it would sell its loss-making business last month. On Wednesday David Cameron said there were no guarantees that Government efforts to save the industry would succeed. The Government has said it is willing to take a 25 per cent stake in any prospective takeover of Tata's UK business by a third party buyer.

"While I want to do everything we can to secure the future, not only for Port Talbot but also for Scunthorpe and steelmaking in Britain, we're coping with a massive oversupply, a collapse in prices, from China,” the Prime Minister told MPs.