Tata Steel: Jeremy Corbyn challenges Government to take public stake in beleaguered industry

Labour leader says the Prime Minister has offered ‘no solutions’ to the Tata crisis

Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn waits to give a television interview after speaking to Tata Steel workers at the Tata sports and social club close to the company's works at Port Talbot, south Wales (AFP/Getty)

Jeremy Corbyn stepped up his attack on the Government’s handling of the threat to Britain’s biggest steel producer, challenging it to take a public stake in the beleaguered industry.

The Labour leader paid a high-profile visit to Port Talbot hours after the decision to put the South Wales plant up for sale was announced – and while Mr Cameron and the Business Secretary, Sajid Javid, were out of the country.

More than 120,000 people have signed his petition calling for Parliament to be recalled early to discuss the fate of steelmaking and demanding the government acts immediately to “protect the steel industry and the core of manufacturing in Britain”.

Mr Corbyn said the Prime Minister had offered “no solutions” to the Tata crisis.

“It is not good enough for David Cameron to stand by and say the situation is difficult,” he said.

Plaid Cymru called for the Welsh government to take “temporary ownership” of Tata’s Welsh plants as “a first step towards a buy-out until another sustainable offer emerges”.