Port Talbot facing 2,500 job losses in steel deal

The British steel industry is braced for 2,500 job cuts in Port Talbot, with thousands more at risk in the UK, as the government prepares a taxpayer-backed deal for the South Wales plant.

- Jack Simpson

The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, is expected to outline details of a rescue deal for the plant that will see the government hand its owners, Tata Steel, £500m to build a new electric furnace - but at the cost of huge redundancies from closing its last blast furnace.

It is understood the government, which previously promised to "push for job guarantees", has been unable to protect these jobs, with 2,500 still expected to go in the coming months.

About 2,500 jobs at British Steel's Scunthorpe site in North Lincolnshire are also under threat, with fears the plant's Chinese owner could bring forward the closure of the blast furnaces there to this year.

Tata plans to switch from the polluting blast furnaces to the much greener, but far less labour-intensive, electric arc technology. The imminent closure of blast furnaces at Port Talbot and Scunthorpe would bring a halt to primary steel production in the UK - making steel from coal and iron ore - with unions and politicians warning of deep economic scarring.