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DAVID CAMERON has vowed to “go the extra mile” to secure the future of the steelworks in Port Talbot – and insisted it is only open today because of his government’s actions.
The PM visited the Tata site yesterday, meeting management and unions to discuss what his administration could do to help ensure the threatened plant is sold.
Business Secretary Sajid Javid indicated in the House of Commons last week the UK government would be willing to take a stake of up to 25% in Tata’s British operations in a bid to help the process.
And Mr Cameron paid his first visit to the steelworks since last month’s announcement by Tata that it would be selling off the works.
The Community union said it welcomed the PM reiterating the commitment to taking a 25% stake in the business.
Mr Cameron said: “The reason Port Talbot isn’t closing is because we intervened.
“Tata were going to close Port Talbot and... the Conservative government that I lead said, ‘Actually no, we need to do everything we can to at least get a sales process going’, so we did intervene and that’s why there’s a sales process.
“I was pleased to go there today to talk about how that sales process is going.
“We have said that we can help on things like power, on procurement, we can help on energy, we can help on the port facilities and so we are looking at all the different ways that we can help, but obviously we want to make sure that everything we do is most effective in getting a long-term settlement for the plant.
“It was very interesting today to hear directly from them about the things that they thought would make a difference.
“I want to see some steel capacity remaining in the UK, which is why we should go the extra mile to do everything we can to try and secure the future of Port Talbot, just as we secured the future of Scunthorpe.
“There can be no guarantees of success – it’s a very difficult global market – but I had good meetings with the management and the unions and we will continue to do everything we can.”
Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of Community, the steelworkers’ union, met the Prime Minister at Port Talbot.
He said: “The joint announcement by the UK and Welsh Governments last week, including the proposal to take up to a 25% stake in the business, was a big step forward and it was good to hear the Prime Minister reiterate that commitment today.
“Steelworkers will now be watching and waiting for the Prime Minis- ter to match his words with real action. We need immediate action to save the industry, but also a longterm plan to give UK steelmaking a fair chance to compete.
“The Prime Minister has now seen first hand the great blast furnaces of Port Talbot, both of which will be vital to any future success of the business.
“He looked proud steelworkers in the eye and promised to do all he could to protect their jobs. Our Save Our Steel campaign will continue as we hold him to his word.”
But First Minister Carwyn Jones was said to have been “surprised and disappointed” only to have heard about the PM’s visit via Twitter.
A spokesman for Mr Jones said: “We had invited him to Port Talbot previously, and indeed, after various discussions and meetings the First Minister had undertaken on steel yesterday had asked for a meeting with the Prime Minister today.
“However, his office said he was unavailable. We’ve said throughout that we are willing to put our political differences aside in the interests of our steel industry, but it does require respect from all parties to make this work.”
Speaking after the Prime Minister’s visit to Port Talbot, Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock said: “I had a constructive telephone conversation with the Prime Minister this morning, during which we agreed that our shared aim is to ensure that the sales process is conducted in a responsible, thorough and robust manner, as a responsible seller.
“I reiterated the view that the Save Our Steel campaign has articulated repeatedly, which is that the integrated nature of the Tata Steel UK Strip Products business must be retained, regardless of ownership.
“Labour MPs have raised the need