First Minister meets bosses, staff & trade unions at Tata Shotton as company looks set to begin formal sale process on Monday

[vc_row padding_top=”0px” padding_bottom=”0px”][vc_column fade_animation_offset=”45px” width=”1/1″][text_output]First Minister Carwyn Jones met with management, staff and trade unions at Tata’s Shotton plant today.

Mr Jones attended at the invitation of Alyn and Deeside Welsh Labour Assembly candidate Carl Sargeant.

Tata Shotton General Manager Bill Duckworth told Mr Jones:

“There’s a more positive story here in that we make a profit, we generate cash, we have a local customer base sticking with us at the moment, a full order book and a skilled workforce.”
The First Minister’s visit to Shotton came the day after he had met David Cameron and George Osborne in Downing Street to discuss the steel crisis.

He said that the UK Government finally seemed to realise how important the steel industry is in economic and strategic terms.

“They now realise in London how important the industry is – the UK couldn’t be a military power in the world without steel,” he said.

Mr Jones added given the pension liability involved, the UK Government does now understand it needs to put something on the table to take that liability away to secure a buyer.

Carl Sargeant, Bill Duckworth and Carwyn Jones

The Welsh Government will put money in and is putting pressure on Tata to keep operations going while buyer talks take place. He confirmed that there were two interested buyers.

“We’ve put money on the table but we don’t have the levers they’ve got in London which are energy prices and tariffs,” he said.

He said the UK Government needed to impose tariffs on cheap Chinese steel, to take action on the UK’s high energy prices and be prepared to take over Tata’s assets to create

enough time for a buyer to come forward.

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Carl Sargeant said: “I’m pleased the First Minister visited Shotton today. The First Minister recognises the importance of Shotton to the sector and its international standing

for quality. The workforce in Shotton is as important as any other manufacturing facility in Wales.”

Meanwhile, UK business minister Sajid Javid used Twitter to announce that Tata was to begin the formal sales process of its UK steel business on Monday.[/text_output][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row padding_top=”0px” padding_bottom=”0px”][vc_column fade_animation_offset=”45px” width=”1/6″][gap size=”1.313em” id=”” class=”” style=””][/vc_column][vc_column fade_animation_offset=”45px” width=”5/6″][vc_raw_html]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[/vc_raw_html][vc_raw_html]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[/vc_raw_html][vc_raw_html]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[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row padding_top=”0px” padding_bottom=”0px”][vc_column fade_animation_offset=”45px” width=”1/1″][text_output]Tata told Mr Javid, who is meeting with the firms Chairman in Mumbai, the launch of the formal sale process will begin on Monday and will give a “reasonable” timeframe to find a buyer.

Tata had said it wants to exit the UK as soon as possible, which has raised fears there would not be enough time to find a buyer for a business.[/text_output][/vc_column][/vc_row]