Tata Steel seeks £500m in government cash for Port Talbot plant
Tata Steel needs £500m from the government to survive the coronavirus economic slowdown, MP for Aberavon Stephen Kinnock said.
Kinnock asked first secretary Dominic Raab in parliament last week to lift the amount lent to businesses under the coronavirus large business interruption loan scheme (CLBILS) from £50m to £500m to help Tata Steel with lost cashflow.
“The £50m cap on loans that are now available under the government support scheme is only about 10 per cent of what Tata Steel actually needs,” he said.
“Tata Steel estimates that it will take around six months to get back to business as usual, or as close as possible to it and the challenge they have is cashflow over that six month period.
“And the estimation is in the region of £500m.”
Raab said: “I know that the chancellor is looking carefully at the steel sector in the hon. gentleman’s constituency, and at all those who are not directly benefitting from this particular scheme to ensure that in the round we are providing the measures that we need in a targeted way to support all the different crucial elements of the economy.”
Sky News reported that Tata Steel was seeking £500m in funding for its Port Talbot steelworks.
The request follows a slowdown in steel orders across Europe with customers such as car plants shutting their doors because of the risk of coronavirus and a crash in customer demand.
Tata Steel was contacted for comment.