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Temporary nationalisation of threatened Tata steel plants is an option, minister confirms

Tata steel supports 15,000 jobs across the UK but many could be lost under future plans

Jon Stone
Wednesday 30 March 2016 09:48 BST
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A view of the Tata Steel processing plant at Scunthorpe
A view of the Tata Steel processing plant at Scunthorpe

Temporarily nationalising steel plants could be an option for dealing with a sell-off by steelmakers Tata, a business minister has confirmed.

Anna Soubry told the BBC that the Government could not permanently take steelmaking into public ownership because of European Union competition rules.

The minister was however pressed on whether the state could “hold the assets” until a buyer was found – and confirmed that the option was being looked at.

Business minister Anna Soubry

“We are, and have, and continue to look at, all options and I do mean all options,” she said.

“But what we first want to achieve is from Tata is this period of time to allow a proper sale process.”

She however warned that Britain would have to be “very careful” to stay within European Union state aid rules in any rescue of the plant.

Indian steelmaking firm Tata has announced it is to sell off the lossmaking parts of its UK steelmaking capacity.

The company’s Port Talbot site – which provides jobs for 5,500 of the company’s 15,000-strong UK steelmaking workforce – is thought to be losing around £1 million a day.

The company says it has been advised to undertake a “strategic review” of its operations in Europe. It recently shelved a £100 million restructuring progarmme at Port Talbot to modernise the site due to the perceived risks of the investment.

The BBC also reports that the Government is looking at providing loan guarantees for potential long-term buyers of the plant.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for the state to take an active role in safeguarding the UK’s manufacturing capacity.

“The Government must intervene immediately to protect UK jobs and British manufacturing,” he said.

Last year Mr Corbyn called for the Government to step in to save 1,200 steelmaking jobs in Redcar.

Tata already announced 1,000 job cuts in January, including 750 at Port Talbot. In October it had previously announced 1,200 losses at other sites around the UK.

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