A delegation including members of the Community union and Labour MP Stephen Kinnock flew out to India ahead of the talks to try and broker a ‘turnaround plan’ for the Port Talbot steel works, but negotiations were unsuccessful.
With Tata Steel deciding to sell its British sites, including Port Talbot, the future of British steel is under threat. Currently more than 17,000 British workers are employed in the industry, with 5,500 in the West Wales plant. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn led the calls for the government to save British steel.
Anna Soubry, Conservative small business minister, told the BBC the government is “considering all options”.
"But what we first want to achieve from Tata is this period of time to allow a proper sale process,” she continued. "We have to be very careful because we have these state aid rules, which have been established for well over 50 years."
Soubry went on to criticise her predecessor Vince Cable for not doing more to address the steel crisis in the last parliament.
“I think Vince could have done more: sorry, but that is my view,” she said. “When I was appointed, the prime minister specifically said to me, ‘We have some very real problems in our steel industry, and I want you to devote a large amount of your time to solving those problems as much as you can’.”
