Tata Steel is reported to have approached the UK Government for financial support currently far more than on offer under its package of measures under the coronavirus crisis.
The company employs more than 8 000 people across the UK, around half of them at Port Talbot in south Wales.
Local MP Stephen Kinnock has urged the government to raise the limit on the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme to support the company and others.
He said: ‘This is capped at £50m (EUR 57m), which is only one-tenth of what Tata Steel believes will be the cashflow impact on the company over a six-month period.’
Dominic Raab, who is acting prime minister while Boris Johnson is recovering from coronavirus said the chancellor Rishi Sunak was looking ‘at the steel sector in the hon. gentleman’s constituency and at all those who are not directly benefiting from this particular scheme to ensure … we are providing the measures that we need in a targeted way to support all the different crucial elements of the economy.’
A Tata Steel spokesman told Sky News at the weekend: ‘We continue to work with both the UK and Welsh governments to identify what support is available.’
In January, the chairman of the Tata Sons parent group, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, told The Sunday Times the company ‘can’t have a situation where India keeps funding losses’ at its Port Talbot steelworks. Tata Steel’s pre-tax losses were reported at £371m in 2019, up from £222m a year earlier
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