UK govt could take on Port Talbot debts after Tata sale, says Javid

UK government “co-investment” with any potential buyer of Tata Steel's Port Talbot plant could involve taking on some of its debt, Business Secretary Sajid Javid said on Tuesday.

Speaking during an emergency debate on the steel industry in parliament, Javid repeated the government's position, stated on Monday, that taking a partial stake in the plant was one of the options it was considering.

During the debate Javid was pressed by shadow Business Secretary Angela Eagle to clarify what "co-investment" meant.

“The key point is that any co-investment would have to be on commercial terms. Investment can take a variety of forms, such as debt, but what I said was a demonstration of all the options that the government are considering,” he told MPs.

The debate was called by the opposition Labour Party in response to the government's refusal to recall parliament during the Easter recess. Tata announced on March 29 it was offloading all its UK assets in response to weaker commodity prices.

Labour MP David Anderson noted Prime Minister David Cameron had managed to recall parliament within two days to discuss the death of Margaret Thatcher in 2013.

“What does that say about the government's priorities?” he said during the three hour debate.

Eagle said the government had been "found wanting".

"They have been behind rather than ahead of events. Their response to the biggest crisis in steelmaking for a generation has been warm words but little effective action. There has been what can only be described as an ideologically driven reluctance to get involved as the crisis has deepened. It has been a mixture of indifference and incompetence," she said.

Tata has so far sold its Long Products Europe business, which included a plant in Scunthorpe, to investment firm Greybull Capital for a nominal £1.

Greybull is expected to invest £400m in a deal that would save 4,400 UK jobs. In return workers have been asked to accept a 3% cut in pay and a pensions freeze.