Tata Steel to shed 720 jobs in Yorkshire and West Midlands

The job losses have been attributed to the strong pound, high electricity costs and failure by government to implement measures to alleviate these costs.

The proposal is for 550 core job cuts for two plants in Rotherham in South Yorkshire and Stocksbridge in West Yorkshire and 170 job cuts at Wednesbury in the West Midlands. These job losses are proposed for the end of March 2016.

“Energy is one of our largest costs at our speciality and bar business and we are disadvantaged by the UK’s cripplingly high electricity costs,” said Karl Koehler, chief executive of Tata Steel’s European operations in a statement. “And while the UK government announced helpful measures to reduce the impact of its high-energy taxes a few years ago, these measures still haven’t been introduced.

“We want to play our role in reinvigorating the UK’s manufacturing industry, but increasing imports and high energy costs have further undermined the competitiveness of foundations industries.