SANJEEV Gupta, the business tycoon who saved Tata Steel’s Scottish plants from closure, has raised hopes that his metals company, Liberty House, could now save the Indian conglomerate’s steelworks in Wales and England.
Mr Gupta said he had had a “positive” meeting with Sajid Javid, the Business Secretary, who, after talks with trade unions, last night flew to Mumbai to have discussions with Tata’s chairman, Cyrus Mistry.
The Liberty House chief said: "The UK Government appears highly supportive and is proactively engaged in finding a long-term solution. We have also actively engaged with Welsh Government and again we are encouraged by their approach.
"The next step is for Tata to define the formal sales process and request indications of interest from potential buyers. We await further details on this and then will assess our own next step.
"Liberty has already proven its ability to build value from UK steel assets with our acquisition of our Newport Steel plant, Midlands engineering operations and most recently in Scotland where we acquired mills from Tata. Everyone is very motivated to find a solution," insisted Mr Gupta.
Earlier, he explained that the main obstacle to reviving Tata’s remaining UK business was the giant blast furnace at the Port Talbot plant. But the Liberty House chief pointed out that it might be possible to switch to arc furnaces to recycle scrap steel instead of importing raw materials and then exporting scrap.
Last month, Mr Gupta’s company announced it was buying two mothballed steel plants at Clydebridge and Dalzell in Scotland.
The potential involvement of Liberty House in the remaining Tata steelworks came as David Cameron held a summit in Downing Street with Carwyn Jones, the First Minister of Wales, who hinted that the UK Government could help smooth the way for a further sale by helping with Tata’s pension liability, estimated to be around £15 billion.
Saying the summit had been “productive”, Mr Jones explained: “The Government has indicated they want to take steps to help with that liability because we know that, without that being dealt with, there won't be a sale."
Mr Gupta admitted pension liabilities were an issue but the most pressing need now was to ensure the viability of the plants.
Earlier, Nick Clegg, the former Deputy Prime Minister, called for the UK Government to help with Tata's pension liabilities to “lighten the burden” for any potential buyer.
Meantime, David Cameron, speaking at an event in Birmingham focused on the EU referendum, said admitted the industry was facing a “very difficult situation” because of massive over-capacity and a collapse in global prices. But the Prime Minister stressed how the UK Government was “determined to help in every way that we can”.
Elsewhere, leaders of Community, Unite and the GMB met Mr Javid before he left for Mumbai and stressed how they wanted the Tata business sold as one rather than firms "cherry-picking" different parts.
Unite leader Len McCluskey said the meeting was a "good first step" but added: “The Government needs to put a protective arm around the industry to show they are serious. Talk is cheap - we now need to see a practical application."
This was echoed by Angela Eagle, the Shadow Business Secretary, who said: “It is absolutely essential that we save our steel industry. It is a vital foundation industry for manufacturing, for defence, and for our economy. We’ve had enough warm-words from the Tory Government, now is the time for action.”
Earlier, Jeremy Corbyn argued that Mr Cameron should be prepared to take a public stake in the steel industry to protect workers’ jobs and pensions, stressing: "The Government's ideological allergy to public ownership must not be allowed to prevent it taking the steps necessary to save UK steel."
In a separate development, the Rail, Maritime and Transport union called on the UK Government and Network Rail to bring forward rail renewals’ work to help ease the pressure on the steel industry.
"Britain's rail infrastructure is under massive pressure and is creaking under passenger demand and it would be a win-double for the British taxpayer to see the bringing forward of rail renewals work benefiting UK steel at this pivotal time for the industry,” said the union’s general secretary Mick Cash.
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