Steel industry given business rates pledge by minister

Business rates could be cut to save the steel industry depending on budget priorities and EU rules, the economy minister has said.

Edwina Hart gave the pledge to bosses and union leaders at a crisis summit she called on Thursday in Cardiff.

High energy costs and cheap imports have been blamed for thousands of job cuts at plants across the UK.

Mrs Hart said she would look at the cost of cutting business rates "and the reality of whether I am able to do it".

High business rates are contributing to what the industry says is a crisis in steel.

BBC Wales has been told Tata Steel is losing about £1m a day in Wales - its heaviest losses since the depths of the recession.

The company recently said it planned to mothball some operations at Llanwern, Newport, where unions fear 250 jobs will go, and Shotton, Flintshire, where it is claimed 40 jobs could be affected.

Mrs Hart said: "We have to look very carefully at our budget, because we can't spend more than we have coming in on business rates.

"We have to look at other priorities.

"We've also got to ensure we won't be told that we are unfairly helping an industry that is subject to such stringent restraints in the European Union."

Many of the big issues facing the industry were "UK government issues", she added.

"You cannot allow an industry like this to fail. What are we going to do in the defence sector? Are we going to be reliant on others for our steel?"

Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of the Community trade union, said Welsh ministers could help ease the crisis by giving more contracts to companies in Wales.

"I think 55% of all procurement is awarded to Welsh companies, but clearly that figure needs to rise and can rise even further," he told BBC Radio Wales before the meeting.

Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb said UK and Welsh ministers were "doing everything within our power to support communities where the local economy is built on steel and will continue to do so in the weeks, months and years ahead".