Yorkshire '˜offers future on steel'

Shadow Energy Secretary Lisa Nandy praised the Advanced Manufacturing Park, in Rotherham, after visiting the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and seeing work on cutting edge nuclear reactor technology.

Her visit coincided with MPs grilling the chief executive of Tata Steel UK who warned the firm could not keep its British operations open indefinitely while a buyer can be found.

Tata plants in Rotherham and Stocksbridge are among those whose futures have been put at risk by its Indian parent company’s decision to pull out of the UK.

Ms Nandy said: “We’ve had huge concern about what’s happening to British steel over the last few months in particular and obviously there are reasons still to be concerned for those involved in that industry.

“But what I heard today was there is a future for British steel and this is what it looks like.

“If you invest, if you pair top-notch cutting edge research with design and technology then there’s a really exciting future for British steel.”

The Government has faced criticism over its response to Tata’s decision to offload its UK operations but recently made clear it is ready to take part stake in the business if that helps a potential buyer.

Ms Nandy said: “The problem with the way the Government has handled this from the very beginning is that they have given the impression they are quite complacent about the scale of the problem, were slow to act in the first place and it feels that the Government is playing catch-up in a conversation that they should have been involved in orchestrating from the very beginning.”

Business Secretary Sajid Javid defended the Government’s actions in front of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee of MPs, insisting it had persuaded Tata not to immediately close its UK sites in February.

He told the committee he was doing everything in his power to help a successful sale of Tata’s business, but stressed he could not change the price of steel globally.

Mr Javid told MPs: “This is a big economic challenge for the country. I don’t want to live in a country where we have to import all our steel.

“For the thousands of steelworkers and their families and friends affected by this, the message is that we are doing everything we can.”

The Business Secretary also rejected criticism levelled at ministers over the earlier closure of the SSI steelworks in Redcar.

Mr Javid insisted that no potential buyer had come forward with a viable plan for the steelworks.

Committee chairman Iain Wright told the minister: “The fact that mothballing for a future potential owner was not considered is an absolute tragedy.

“We have lost these skills forever. It is an absolute disgrace that was allowed to happen on your watch.”

Bimlendra Jha, chief executive of Tata Steel UK, told MPs there was no set deadline for selling the loss-making assets, but made it clear that Tata could not continue to “bleed” indefinitely.

Mr Jha said if the pension fund liability at Tata is not taken care of there would be no buyer, adding: “If we don’t solve it we are staring at some very bad consequences for the taxpayer ... We are staring at a huge economic and social disaster.”