Steel giant needs £500m of government support

Tata Steel needs circa £500m of government support to weather the current pandemic according to the MP for Aberavon Stephen Kinnock.

Tata which employs 8,385 people across the UK, including in South Yorkshire, is reported to have approached the UK and Welsh Governments for the money after European customers stopped production during the crisis.

The firm has said it is working with both the Welsh and UK governments to identify support and according to reports is seeking to lift the £50-million cap set on loans being offered under the U.K.’s Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

In a company statement it said: “We continue to work with both the U.K. and Welsh governments to identify what support is available.”

However according to Sky News, the firm is looking for support primarily through a commercial loan which would be repayable when market demand recovers.

The issue first arose during last week’s PMQs when Kinnock raised the issue. Responding at the time First Secretary of State Dominic Raab said: “I know that the chancellor is looking very carefully at the steel sector and at all those who are not directly benefitting from this particular scheme to ensure that in the round we are providing the measures that we need in a targeted way to support all the different crucial elements of the economy.”