Tata job threat overshadows steel summit

Reports of 1,200 cuts to come at Scunthorpe plant

A summit meeting of steelmakers in the UK has been overshadowed by news reports claiming that Tata Steel will make 1,200 jobs cuts as early as next week.

The crisis meeting in Sheffield saw politicians, unions and other stakeholders come together in the wake of SSI's closure of its Redcar plant in an attempt to prevent the demise of other production facilities.

But any cause for optimism from the meeting was tempered by reports suggesting that Tata was planning to cut 1,200 jobs at its facility in Scunthorpe. The company declined to confirm the cuts, adding that reports were “speculation”.

A Tata company statement said: “We’ve been talking about the challenges we're facing in the UK for many months - surging imports, compounded by the strong pound and uncompetitive policy costs. We've made a number of structural changes to our UK business over the last months and years to make us more competitive. Like all companies we continue to review the performance of our business."

Meanwhile, Gareth Stace, director of UK Steel, the body that organised the steel summit, said that the sector was being confronted by a combination of difficult factors, including low demand, a rise in often unfairly-traded steel imports, a strong pound and uncompetitive policy costs. He said that politicians had been told in no uncertain terms that the steel sector was under “intolerable pressure”.

“We asked government to sit down and listen to the needs of the steel industry and take decisive action to support us. They have listened and promised to take action. The Secretary of State has committed to support the compensation package for energy intensive industries such as steel, and to ensure that state aid approval is secured as soon as possible.

“While it may have been too much to expect immediate decisions, we are cautiously optimistic that the urgent recommendations we have made – from compensation to cut the cost of energy to tackling unfair dumping of steel by China – are all now at the top of the Secretary of State’s to-do list.”

But Stace warned that the steel sector would see more job cuts unless help was given. He added: “I cannot emphasise enough that there is an urgency here and very little time before we start to see more job losses and companies facing intolerable pressure. This really is about saving Britain’s steel industry and time is of the essence.”