David Cameron has flown back to Britain for emergency talks with ministers over the financial crisis engulfing Tata Steel’s British operation – amid warnings that the firm has just weeks to secure a rescue deal on which up to 40,000 jobs could depend.
The Indian-owned company said it was losing £1m a day, with a source claiming that the government’s failure to back calls in Europe for higher tariffs against cheap Chinese imports was the “last straw”, prompting the decision to sell the business that was once British Steel and more recently Corus.
Labour accused the government of being in “disarray” as Cameron and his business secretary, Sajid Javid, scrambled back to the UK after Tata announced it would be selling off British plants including the Port Talbot steelworks in south Wales as well as sites at Rotherham in South Yorkshire, Corby in Northamptonshire and Shotton in Deeside.
Jeremy Corbyn has urged Cameron to treat the unfolding situation as a national crisis by recalling parliament and considering bringing Britain’s ailing steel industry back into public ownership.
However, Javid rejected the idea of nationalisation, which government officials believe will carry a pricetag of £1.5bn a year. “I don’t think that nationalisation is going to be the solution,” said Javid. “I think everyone would want a long-term viable solution and, if you look around Europe and elsewhere, I think nationalisation is rarely the answer, particularly if you take into account the big challenges the industry faces.”
But the government is thought to be considering other forms of aid, including stepping in with temporary financial support during the search for a buyer.
The prime minister will travel to Washington DC on Thursday where dozens of world leaders are gathering for the Nuclear Security Summit, hosted by the US president, Barack Obama. Cameron is expected to raise the issue of Tata Steel with the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Source: The Guardian