Tata Steel: £13.5m to help firms hit by Port Talbot job losses

Tata Steel UK chief executive Rajesh Nair said: “The Transition Board has been set up to support both Tata Steel employees and those in local supply chain companies, so today’s announcement and the ambition to help the region and local communities grow in line with the changing needs of the developing industrial ecosystem here in south Wales, is very much welcomed.”

Alun Davies, the Community union’s national officer for steel, said Ms Stevens had acted “at pace to ensure that this first tranche of funding can be released as swiftly as possible, and we thank her for her steadfast commitment to our steel communities”.

“We are also particularly pleased that this announcement includes support for contractors,” he said.

But Mr Davies stressed the union would “continue to oppose the company’s damaging proposals”.

“It remains our firm belief that no compulsory redundancies are necessary, and that an alternative approach is still possible,” he said.

Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, of the GMB union, said: “Today’s transition board meeting was productive and a welcome sign of the reset this new government offers.

“We are keen to hear further about the government’s commitments to fast and targeted support for industry.

“It is vital for steelworkers, contractors and their communities, and the wider economy alike.”

Conservative shadow Welsh secretary Lord Davies of Gower said he was “very pleased to see that financial support from the transition board is reaching those impacted”.

“This deal was only possible because the previous Conservative government intervened in Port Talbot, with one of the biggest support packages in the history of steelmaking to save as many jobs as we could,” he said,

“I am also pleased that Jo Stevens and her colleagues have stopped engaging in deeply irresponsible comments, where they implied that a better deal was possible.

“Tata Steel were crystal-clear that there is no other deal than this.”