Welsh first minister to go to India for Tata talks

Tata Steel has now drawn its consultation over 2,800 job losses to a close

The first minister will be in India next week to lobby the bosses of Tata over the future of steel production in Wales.

Vaughan Gething said he will go to Mumbai to press the case for not closing down the blast furnaces at Port Talbot.

He said he would be calling on the company not to have "hard compulsory redundancies".

Tata Steel has rejected a plan from unions to keep one blast furnace running at the steel plant in Port Talbot while it transitions to greener steel production.

About 2,800 jobs are likely to go across Tata's UK operations, the bulk of them at Port Talbot - the biggest steel plant in the UK.

It currently employs 4,000 workers at Port Talbot and will begin a voluntary redundancy process in May.

In Wales, the company also has steel processing sites in Llanwern, Shotton, Trostre and Caerphilly.

Speaking in the Senedd, Mr Gething said: "Next week, I plan to go to Mumbai to meet Tata to press the case again not just for the alternative but a clear case that we have continued to make and will continue to make for there to be no hard compulsory redundancies".

He said he would ask the company to "look again at the opportunities for steel within Wales and Britain, and what it will mean not just for our renewable future but the general future of our economy".

Tata last week said its decision would secure the future of steel making at the site and the UK government is contributing £500m towards the cost of the project.

Steel unions have condemned the decision and threatened strike action.

Alasdair McDiarmid, assistant general secretary at the Community union, thanked the first minister for his "continued commitment to the steel industry in south Wales, and that he will be making the case for Tata to rethink their damaging plan in his upcoming meetings with the company's directors in Mumbai”.

"Tata's deal is unacceptable, and our members will not be bullied into accepting a plan which is bad for jobs, bad for the environment and bad for the country," he added.

“That is why we are balloting for industrial action, and expect to secure a resounding vote in favour when the results are announced on 9 May."

Tata chief executive and managing director TV Narendran has called the unions' proposal to keep one blast furnace open not "financially or operationally viable".