Steelworks boss quits with hundreds of jobs on the line

A VETERAN of the Scunthorpe steelworks, owned by Tata Steel, has quit after it was announced that extensive cuts would be made at the plant.

Jon Bolton, head of the long products division will be leaving the company at the end of next month after 35 years in the role.

He will be replaced by Tata executive Bimlendra Jha after being pushed out in the announced cuts, according to The Sunday Times.

Last month it was announced that Indian firm Tata would be cutting up to 550 jobs in Rotherham South Yorkshire which was blamed on the UK’s “cripplingly high” electricity costs.

Another 170 redundancies are planned for the firm’s other UK sites, but the sites at Stocksbridge and Rotherham are taking the heaviest cuts.

At the time, Karl Koehler, chief executive of Tata Steel’s European operations, said: “Energy is one of our largest costs at our speciality and bar business and we are disadvantaged by the UK’s cripplingly high electricity costs.

“And while the UK Government announced helpful measures to reduce the impact of its high energy taxes a few years ago, these measures still haven’t been introduced.

Tata acquired the steelworks in 2007 as part of a £6.2bn takeover of Corus.