He said: “If reports that Tata Steel intend to pause the sale of most of its United Kingdom business, including Port Talbot, prove to be correct, then this would clearly pose more questions than it answers”.
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Seeking to avoid thousands of job losses, the government had offered millions of pounds in support for the company and its potential buyers.
In a special joint committee steel inquiry, Soubry also reiterated the government’s commitment to take a 25 per cent stake in Tata UK to secure a rescue deal.
The company had made a decision to exit its United Kingdom business earlier this year after suffering losses of up to 1 million pounds a day, largely due to Chinese steel exports forcing down prices in the steel market.
Unite union national officer Harish Patel said: “The cloud of uncertainty over steelworkers’ heads needs to be lifted by Tata giving binding commitments about its long-term intentions regarding Port Talbot and its United Kingdom strips business”. It has 130,000 members and a deficit of 700 million pounds (about $900 million).
Business Secretary Sajid Javid will fly to Mumbai to meet Tata executives.
“We have certainly turned them around from the position in March which is they were going to close it all down”.
The business minister, who opposed Britain leaving the European Union, said she was still confident a buyer could be found, even as some MPs referred to reports that Tata Steel had put the sale process on hold.
Asked about the Tata pension scheme he said: “We’re still looking at pensions, we’ve had several thousand responses to the consultation we put out and that’s fundamental to resolving the long term future”. Up to seven parties have submitted bids or expressed an interest, though some bidders are getting cold feet after the referendum.
German engineering conglomerate Thyssen Krupp and Tata have held talks on combining their continental European steel operations, as global overcapacity weighs on prices and profits.
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“When we faced the crisis with Tata you can be assured we looked at all options and one of those was whether or not, my phrase, to “buy it for a quid”.
