UK’s steel industry has our support, insists May

BRITAIN’S crisis-hit steel-making industry has the full support of the Government, Theresa May said on a visit to Wales yesterday.

Speaking on a visit to Cardiff for talks with Carwyn Jones, the Welsh First Minister, Mrs May said: “We want to continue to see steel making here. That is in the Welsh interest but also the UK national interest.”

In a statement ahead of the trip, the Prime Minister said the Government was “committed to helping the steel industry secure a long-term viable future in Wales. The steel industry is vital to the UK and we will do everything we can to look after the workers and wider community as we work with Tata and the Welsh government”.

Tata’s giant Port Talbot plant is the UK’s largest steel-making facility but its future has been under threat since March when its Indian owner announced it was selling its entire UK steel business.

The UK steel industry has seen thousands of jobs go over the past year as it buckles under pressure from high energy prices and a flood of subsidised imports from China.

David Cameron’s government had said it was willing to take a 25pc equity stake alongside a new owner of Tata’s UK steel business, as well as offer loan guarantees worth hundreds of millions in an attempt to secure a sale.

There were concerns that the result of the Brexit vote could put further pressure on the industry, with materials for steel making becoming more expensive as the pound plunged, and longer-term fears about British steel mills’ ability to export their products after Britain leaves the EU.

Upheaval in government also created worries about whether the industry would still have the same support.

However, Mrs May – whose close aide Nick Timothy is the son of a steelworker – indicated her continued support.

Trade body UK Steel called the Prime Minister’s comments on Wales’s steel industry “extremely encouraging”, but said the support must be for the sector across the whole of Britain.

Sanjeev Gupta, executive chairman of Liberty House, which is vying to buy parts of Tata’s UK business, called for Mrs May to act to end the “uncertainty” over the fate of Tata’s plants and its 11,000 employees, adding: “Primary steel production, as part of an industrial strategy, is essential to rebuilding UK’s competitiveness and long-term industrial presence.”