REPRESENTATIVES of Wales’ embattled steel industry sector have again called on the UK Government to do more stop the situation from worsening.

A special meeting of the UK Government’s Welsh Affairs Committee was held yesterday, Wednesday, to discuss the ongoing crisis in the UK steel industry, which hit Wales late last month when Tata Steel announced it would cut 1,050 jobs – including 750 at its plants in Llanwern and Port Talbot.

Tata’s UK director of strip products Stuart Wilkie and head of public affairs Tim Morris were first to appear before the meeting and answered questions around the reasons for the job losses and what more could be done to support the firm.

The ‘dumping’ of large volumes of cheap steel on the UK market by China has been cited as a major cause of the current crisis in the industry, and Mr Wilkie said placing restrictions on imports from the country, as well as Russia, would be an important step forward in helping UK firms regain a foothold.

Mr Morris also said he was concerned that China seemed to be getting preferential treatment in terms of rates.

“We are not asking for special treatment,” he said. “We are not asking for beneficial treatment. What we want is a level playing field.

“We want to fight and we want to win, but we’ve got to be treated fairly.”

Saying Tata expects to spend about £100 million – about 10 per cent of its entire budget – on power costs in the coming financial year, Mr Wilkie also said high energy costs in the UK were also a major problem for British firms.

General secretary of trade union Community – which represents many within the steel industry – Roy Rickhuss also appeared at yesterday’s meeting, where he said he hoped the UK and Welsh Governments as well as the EU would do more to support the sector.

“Why aren’t we building wind farms with steel from the UK?” he said. “Those are the questions we need to be asking.

“And if not, why not?”

Minister for small business, industry and enterprise Anna Soubry was last to appear before the committee, and was grilled about what the government was doing to support the industry.

The committee’s chairman and Monmouth MP David Davies asked her why firms building wind farms and other renewable energy projects using imported steel were being given government support while firms such as Tata struggled.

“Why on Earth are we paying subsidies to companies which are not using products produced in this country?” he said.

“Tata are paying extra for their energy in order to subsidise renewable energy schemes.”

Ms Soubry replied: “You can’t force them to buy British.

“This is a free market.”

She also assured the committee she and her government colleagues were doing “everything we can” to support Tata and other steel firms.

The remaining 300 job losses announced by Tata will be made in back office functions and plants in England.