Steel pensioners should not pay to save industry, MP Flynn says

Retired steel workers should not have to pay for the industry's rescue by taking cuts in their pensions, a Welsh Labour MP has said.

A £485m deficit in the British Steel pension scheme has been deterring potential buyers of Tata Steel's UK business.

The UK government has launched a consultation on the scheme's future, in the hope of removing the stumbling block.

One option would be to limit annual pension increases to a lower measure of inflation.

Trustees of the scheme have welcomed the idea as better than seeing the scheme collapse.

But Newport West MP Paul Flynn said the nation should foot the bill to save the steel industry, not its past workers.