Tata Steel closure not expected to impact Warwick
Tata Steel this week announced that it plans to sell its entire UK business, putting 15,000 UK jobs at risk. The company’s recently opened research and development (R&D) facility at Warwick, however, is to remain unaffected.
A spokesman for the University said: “We do not expect that the latest news will have any effect on Tata’s support for steel research at Warwick.”
An influx of cheap steel from China in recent months has led to the fast deterioration of the UK steel economy.
This led to Tata announcing plans to cut 1,200 jobs in October 2015, just weeks before the Warwick R&D facility was opened. Then, at the start of this year, plans to cut 1,050 more jobs were announced.
David Cameron said today that nationalisation of the UK steel industry was not “the right answer”, drawing criticism from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
However the government has said it will “do everything possible to secure the future of steelmaking” in the UK, yet refused to recall parliament to discuss the issue.
“We do not expect that the latest news will have any effect on Tata’s support for steel research at Warwick.
Peter Dunn, director of press and policy
George Osborne welcomed the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, to the UK in October 2015 – just as Tata announced job cuts in response to Chinese flooding of the steel market.
On that visit, Osborne promised a “golden decade” of economic relations with China. In February this year, the UK government blocked an EU motion which would have tackled Chinese “dumping” of steel – provoking criticism from many in the steel industry.
Internal demand for steel in China has plummeted as economic growth has slowed, causing Chinese manufacturers (funded by the Chinese state) to flood global markets with cheap steel. This has caused problems for manufacturers in the UK who have higher operating costs.
Critics fear UK manufacturers will be priced out of business, with steel prices to rise again in the future. There are also significant national security fears surrounding being reliant upon other countries for a vital resource such as steel.
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