Indian-owned Tata have confirmed the loss
of 1,170 jobs at its UK operations, bringing steelmaking in Scotland to
an end after 143 years.
The brunt of the cuts will be borne in Scunthorpe, where 900 posts will go.
The rest of the redundancies will be at its plants in
Dalzell and Clydebridge in Scotland, along with a small number at other
sites.
The news comes a day after it was confirmed 1,700 jobs were
in jeopardy at UK-based Caparo Industries, which is owned by Labour peer
Lord Paul.
And it follows the announcement that SSI in Redcar, Teesside, is to be closed with the loss of 2,200 jobs.
Tata has said the cuts are partly due to a "flood" of cheap
imports, especially from China, as well as a strong pound and high
electricity prices.
Speaking to Sky News earlier about whether the Prime Minister would raise the steel issue with Chinese president Xi Jinping, Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond said:
"It’s certainly one of the subjects that will be on the agenda, the
steel industry. China is a very big producer of steel, as you would
expect.
"But there’s a global over-capacity in the steel industry
and that’s caused prices to fall very precipitately over the last 12
months or so, and that’s causing a problem around the world.
"The EU has imposed tariffs on Chinese steel to ensure that
the price of Chinese steel reaching consumers here is fair, but there is
a problem in this industry."
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