Business Secretary Sajid Javid was to travel to Mumbai last night to meet the chairman of Tata as efforts to save thousands of jobs are stepped up.
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THE ongoing crisis in Wales’ steel industry which could see tens of thousands of jobs lost in Newport and across the country has been branded “a vehicle crash” by one industry boss.
“We need to make sure we get the right deal, obviously that deal is for Tata to decide because they’re a private company, but that we do everything we can to make it happen”, Ms Soubry said. I am still to engage fully. “But we don’t see very much evidence of anything changing”.
He said production could be expanded but with different methods – a transition that would take years.
Mr Jones said: ” If a buyer comes forward then the time scale of negotiations will be extended.
Setting out his demands, Mr Jones said on Monday: “My message to the Prime Minister tomorrow is simple”.
Mr Javid will join a meeting in Downing Street with Prime Minister David Cameron and the First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, before holding talks with union leaders later on Tuesday.
“So, I think the government has indicated that it’s going to focus on that and that’s exactly what it should do”. I know how they work, I know what makes them tick, and I know how they like to do deals.
“The steel industry is vital to Wales, and to the United Kingdom, and it is important that we all work together to secure its long term, viable future”, he added.
“This is not something that a responsible employer would seek to do, given any sale and the necessary arrangements and due diligence will take some considerable time”.
Carwyn Jones told AMs Tata wants buyers to come forward in three to four weeks.
“Steel producers in the UK need to operate on a level playing field with the rest of the world and I will be asking for assurances that the UK Government will negotiate a realistic tariff regime at European Union level to mitigate steel-dumping”.
Research for the union showed that the spend by NR with Tata was in decline.
India’s Tata Group bought the former Corus Steel, an Anglo-Dutch group, in 2007, but the business is lossmaking.
This has fallen by 14.6%, from £114,865,267 or 2.1% of spend, in the previous year, it was claimed.
Meanwhile Jeremy Corbyn will accuse the Tory administration of having an “ideological allergy to public ownership” which is preventing it from taking the steps needed to save the steel industry.
In a reference to the large pension liability that could prove as a hurdle, Gupta said: “It’s (pensions) a bit like a ball and chain around the company’s ankles at the moment and the new buyer would want to have some reassurance that they won’t inherit all of those liabilities”.
Asked if the government should consider nationalising Tata’s United Kingdom steel plants, Mr Jones said that he “wouldn’t use the word “nationalisation”. “We have also actively engaged with the Welsh government and again we are encouraged by their approach”, Gupta, who is the founder and CEO of Liberty House, said in a statement.
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He will hold talks with Cyrus Mistry to discuss details of the sales process for the firm’s United Kingdom steel operations.
