Tata and British Steel bosses to sit on new Government steel council
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The Government has launched a new steel council with members including Tata Steel and British Steel following thousands of job losses in the UK last year. The Steel Council will help steer plans for the industry which will be backed by up to £2.5 billion of investment.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, who will chair the council’s first meeting on Tuesday, said steel communities have “had enough of lurching from crisis to crisis”. The chief executives of Tata Steel and British Steel, along with the GMB Trade Union and devolved government ministers, will be among the members set to meet regularly.
Last year, Tata Steel said it was replacing traditional blast furnaces with an electric arc furnace at its biggest UK site in Port Talbot, Wales. Traditional steelmaking ceased in September, with thousands of workers losing their jobs. British Steel also announced it would close blast furnaces in Scunthorpe in 2023, and unveiled plans to roll out a less polluting electric arc furnace.
The plans, which are greener but require fewer workers to keep them going, raised fears over potentially thousands of job losses. The Labour Government has vowed to spend £2.5 billion “to rebuild the steel industry”. The money would sit alongside a separate £500 million package for Tata Steel to part-fund the new steel production at Port Talbot.
