Afternoon summary
- The Welsh government has said Port Talbot and Tata Steel’s other UK sites cannot be allowed to close and has opened talks with potential buyers about a rescue deal. As Graham Ruddick and Anushka Asthana report, Carwyn Jones, the first minister, told the Welsh assembly: “Welsh steel – British steel - cannot be allowed to die.” Jones said there had been early expressions of interest in Tata’s UK operations but called on the Indian owner to allow a realistic timeframe for the sale to go through. “This should be months, not weeks,” he told the assembly, which has been recalled to deal with the crisis. “As they prepare to withdraw from Wales, Tata must have regard for its legal and moral responsibilities. Tata has duties and obligations to its workforce and steel communities. It is a company with a global reputation for corporate social responsibility and they should not surrender that reputation cheaply.”
- Unions representing steel workers have urged the government to help a new buyer get the Tata steel business “back to self-sustainability”. Government intervention may be needed for up to three years, they say. And they have urged the government to ensure the business is not broken up.
- The Labour MP John Healey has written to Sajid Javid, the business secretary, saying that if Tata closes all its operations in Rotherham, the council could eventually lose £3.2m, or 4% of its business rates revenue. Taking into account the impact on firms in the supply chain, the council could lose £5.8m or 7% of its business rates revenue, he says. He has asked the government to promise to make up the shortfall.
- An Opinium poll for the Evening Standard has shown Labour’s Sadiq Khan lengthening his lead over the Conservatives’ Zac Goldsmith in first preference votes in the London mayoral election. It suggests Khan is ahead by eight points in the first round, and that he would also win by eight points in the final round.
- Aerospace giant Airbus Group has written to its 15,000 UK employees warning of the risks of a Brexit vote. As the Press Association reports, bosses sent the letter on Monday outlining fears that leaving the European Union could increase competition in the UK market. The aircraft manufacturer employs 136,000 people globally and 15,000 people in the UK. While it said it remains “committed” to its UK operations whatever the outcome of the referendum, it said its success is based on a “highly competitive, integrated European business model”. The letter, signed by six top Airbus Group bosses, including the president of Airbus Group UK Paul Kahn, said: “We simply don’t know what ‘out’ looks like.”
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
Updated
Unions are also arguing that Tata should not be broken up, the BBC’s Mark Denton reports.
Unions say Tata's uk assets shouldn't be broken up " SSI has shown that a blast-furnace only operation in the UK is not sustainable." 1/2
— Mark Denten (@BBCMarkDenten) April 4, 2016
Steel unions: " Allowing Tata or other investors to cherry-pick assets will put steel making at risk" 2/2.
— Mark Denten (@BBCMarkDenten) April 4, 2016
Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of the Community union, which represents steelworkers at Port Talbot, said he was more confident than he was last week about the future of the industry after his meeting with fellow union leaders at the TUC HQ today.
.@Roy_Rickhuss 'feeling more confident than last wk' about solution for steel industry after today's mass meeting. pic.twitter.com/ygHEvJ1yG0
— Community union (@CommunityUnion) April 4, 2016
The Daily Mail’s Jason Groves says the Department for Business is touchy about suggestions that Sajid Javid has been sidelined over the steel crisis.
Business Dept prickly over suggestions Sajid Javid is being sidelined by No 10 in steel crisis. 'He's v.much the man in the hot seat...'
— Jason Groves (@JasonGroves1) April 4, 2016
Sadiq Khan, Labour’s candidate for London mayor, has given an interview to Alastair Campbell for GQ magazine. Here are some of the main points he made.
- Khan said Jeremy Corbyn had made mistakes as Labour leader because he was inexperienced when he took charge.
[Corbyn] has made mistakes. If you have done 32 years as a backbencher, no experience of the front bench, let alone leadership, it is a difficult transition.
But simple things: as leader of the opposition you’re applying for the job of prime minister, so when there is an event to commemorate the Battle of Britain, I don’t care what your views are, you sing the national anthem. That was a mistake.
- Khan said he “liked” Boris Johnson, even though he thought he was “dodgy”.
Boris is a force of nature. He is personable, funny. I like Boris. You can like people with dodgy politics, dodgy ideas and ruthless ambition.
- He said Zac Goldsmith, his Tory opponent, did not have Johnson’s vision or charisma.
Zac has none of the vision or charisma. Being the mayor of a leading global centre, you should have done something, have ideas, know why you’re doing it. I am unclear why he is doing it.
- He said election an ethnic minority mayor would send a positive message about London around the world. Asked about this, he said: “Not being too pompous about it, but think about the signal that is going to send around the world.”
- He said George Galloway, who is standing for mayor as the Respect candidate, was “a horrible man” who “always seeks to divide”.
Sajid Javid, the business secretary, has got talks arranged tomorrow with trade unions and with Sanjeev Gupta, a potential buyer for the Port Talbot steelworks, it has emerged.
These are from my colleague Anushka Asthana.
Sajid Javid is meeting tycoon Sanjeev Gupta tomorrow morning re potential Tata sale. Source says bis sec has his dept in "full crisis mode"
— Anushka Asthana (@GuardianAnushka) April 4, 2016
They are trying to bat away suggestions that he is being sidelined after slow initial response, as decision made when he was in Oz.
— Anushka Asthana (@GuardianAnushka) April 4, 2016
And this is from the BBC’s Norman Smith.
Biz Sec Sajid Javid to meet steel unions tomorrow over Tata talks
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) April 4, 2016
In the comments section BTL getoutofmydreams asked if No 10 were right to say the EU could still take action against China over dumping if it grants it market economy status (MES).
This briefing paper, from the European Parliament thinktank, provides more detail on this. The EU would still be be able to impose tariffs, but treating China as a non-market economy (NME) allows it to impose higher tariffs than if it had MES.
Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative candidate for London mayor, has today published an action plan for tackling extremism. It includes a commitment to an “integration test” for City Hall spending which, according to his team’s briefing, means Goldsmith as mayor would only spend money on events benefiting the whole community, not just a single group. Any group organising a religious festival would have to prove they were reaching out to all residents regardless of faith to get a grant, his team says.
Goldsmith also says he would recruit a team of “cyber specials”, volunteers who would help the police tackle online extremism.
Carwyn Jones's statement on Port Talbot - Summary
Here are the main points from Carwyn Jones’s opening statement about Port Talbot. Jones is the Welsh first minister and Labour’s leader in Wales.
- Jones said the Tata steelworks in Wales must not be allowed to close.
I have one simple message for the people of Wales and the UK Government. These plants cannot close. Welsh steel – British steel – cannot be allowed to die. These plants are vital to the future of the United Kingdom’s interests. Britain cannot face a twenty first century where we are dependent exclusively on imported steel. We need capacity to make our own steel and build our own future ...
Wales needs steel. Britain needs steel. Both as first minister for Wales and a member of the wider British political community, I say that we cannot contemplate a future without a domestic steel production capacity. Steel is vital to our long-term strategic interests – both for our economy and our defence. A United Kingdom without steel making is a United Kingdom which is enfeebled and smaller in the world.
Steel production is not just about statistics and the economy – vital though they are – it is a fundamental part of who we are as a country.
- He said he had spoken to one potential buyer this morning.
There have been some early expressions of interest in Tata’s plants – I’ve spoken to one potential buyer this morning. How we deal with these expressions of interest is the substance of our joint work with the UK government.
- He said the UK government’s response to the crisis affecting the steel industry had been “slow and inadequate”.
I am also disappointed that the UK government has failed to tackle the underlying difficulties in UK steel production in a systematic way. We have stood alongside the steel industry for years complaining about high energy costs and steel-dumping. UK government action has been slow and inadequate. It is clear that they have not driven a hard enough bargain at EU level to protect our products from the effects of market-distorting steel dumping. Indeed, we discovered at the weekend that it’s not the European Union holding the UK back, but the other way round – the UK government has been holding back the European Union.
- He demanded three assurances from the UK government, including a commitment to nationalise the Port Talbot temporarily if necessary.
Three things must happen to secure the future of the plants:
Firstly, if a buyer cannot be found within the sales period, the UK government must take the plants into public ownership until a buyer can be found. The Welsh government is willing to contribute from our resources the money we have previously pledged in support of a turnaround.
Secondly, the UK government needs to negotiate a realistic tariff regime at European Union level to mitigate steel-dumping. Steel producers in the UK need to operate on a level playing field with the rest of the world.
Thirdly, we need to see a long-term strategy to reduce energy prices and improve energy efficiency for energy intensive industries in the UK. Without these measures, the underlying problems will re-emerge later and undermine the future of the plants, whoever owns them. What we need is a sustainable plan for the long-term.
- He said Tata’s decision to sell its UK steel business was “disappointing”. The board should have accepted a turnaround plan proposed by Tata’s European management, he said.
- He said the workforce were not to blame for the problems with the industry. “The current situation has been created by distorted conditions in the global steel market, and not by any inefficiency on the part of the workforce,” he said.
- He said Tata should potential buyers “months, not weeks” to decide whether to make a bid.
They must allow sufficient and realistic time for interested buyers to consider the offer. This should be months, not weeks.
- He urged Tata to remember its “moral responsibilities” to the steel communities.
Tata has duties and obligations to its workforce and steel communities. It is a company with a global reputation for corporate social responsibility and they should not surrender that reputation cheaply.
- He said the Welsh government had set up a Port Talbot Waterfront Enterprise Zone and that it was going to be chaired by Roger Maggs, a founder of the investment firm Celtic House Venture Partners.
- He said the Welsh government was launching an enterprise zones business rates scheme in Port Talbot Waterfront. This was “geared towards generating growth among small and medium sized enterprises and will provide an additional stimulus in the area”, he said.
Updated
Welsh assembly debates Port Talbot steelworks crisis
The Welsh assembly has started its emergency session on the Port Talbot steelworks crisis.
You can watch it here.
Carwyn Jones, the Welsh first minister, is opening the session with a statement.
He says that he has one simple message; the Port Talblot steelworks must not close.
The workforce are efficient, he says. The problems facing the plant have been created by global conditions, he says.
But he says the UK government’s response to the crisis has been “slow and inadequate”.
He says it is not the EU that is holding the UK back, in relation to tackling competition from China. It is the other way round, he says.
- Carwyn Jones, Welsh first minister, says Port Talbot steelworks must not be allowed to close.
- He says UK government’s response to the crisis has been “slow and inadequate”.
Here is the Guardian’s story about David Cameron’s father and the Panama Papers. It has just been launched.
Jude Kirton-Darling, a Labour MEP, has posted a blog that challenges Boris Johnson’s claim that EU membership is making it harder for the government to protect the British steel industry. (See 8.57am.) She explains in detail what EU countries can do to protect their steel producers.
It's not the EU standing in the way of supporting steel industry- it's the UK Govt and here's why https://t.co/usX3gFsvmA @AndrewSparrow
— Labour4NorthEast (@Labour4NE) April 4, 2016
Here is an extract.
Europe’s steel industry is in deep crisis. The UK government has insisted that it is unable to intervene to support UK steel as a result of EU rules. However, other European countries support their foundation industries within the rules because they believe they are so strategically important to their general manufacturing base. If a complaint is launched against national or regional action, EU state aid rules are restrictive but not prohibitive. It is possible to gain approval.
No 10 lobby briefing - Summary
Here are the main points from the Number 10 lobby briefing.
On steel
-
David Cameron is meeting Carwyn Jones, the Welsh first minister, in Downing Street to discuss the Port Talbot steel crisis tomorrow, the prime minister’s spokeswoman said.
- The spokeswoman said the government believed it could provide support to help Tata sell the Port Talbot plant. The government was looking at “a number of areas”, she said. She said the government’s judgment was that EU state aid rules would not stop it providing assistance. But she would not go into details when asked if this could involve the government taking on Tata’s pension liabilities, or cutting energy costs further for the industry.
- But she refused to say the government was “optimistic” about the prospect of a sale being achieved. Asked if the government was optimistic about Port Talbot being sold, she replied: “Our focus is on doing what we can to support a successful sale.”
- Downing Street rejected Boris Johnsons’s claim (see 8.57am) that membership of the EU is making it harder for the government to protect the steel industry. The spokeswoman made two points in response to this argument.
First, currently 50% of our steel exports go to the EU and it is very important that we maintain access to that single market. And second, by being in the EU with a seat at the table, we are able, with a market of 500m consumers, to look at what action we take against China [in relation to using tariffs to respond to price dumping.]
- The spokeswoman defended the government’s approach over EU steel tariffs. What was important about tariffs was to set them at a level where they have an impact on the kind of dumping you are trying to tackle, she said. Since tariffs were imposed on rebar steel there has been a 99% fall in imports to the EU of Chinese rebar, she said. She also said it was important to remember that over-production of steel globally was running at a rate of 35%.
- Sajid Javid, the business secretary, and Oliver Letwin, the Cabinet Office minister, are due to meet Tata’s chief financial officer to discuss Port Talbot this afternoon. And Alun Cairns, the Welsh secretary, attended a steel taskforce meeting about this hosted by the Welsh government in Cardiff this morning.
- The spokeswoman said Cameron still has confidence in Javid. Asked about criticism of Javid’s decision to go to Australia ahead of the crucial Tata board meeting last week, the spokeswoman said that Downing Street had addressed this last week.
- The spokeswoman said the UK still supported China being granted market economy status by the EU. If China were to get market economy status, the EU could still take action against it if it were concerned that it was dumping (exporting goods at below cost), she said.
On the Panama Papers
- Downing Street refused to say whether the Cameron family still had money in a Panama offshore fund. Asked about this, the spokeswoman replied: “That is a private matter. I will focus on what the government is doing.”
- She refused to comment on reports that Cameron’s late father Ian features in the Panama Papers. Asked about this, she replied:
Most of you seem to be aware that that story was written in 2012 and we responded at the time. I do not have anything to add.
For reference, here is the Number 10 reaction from the story we ran at the time.
Downing Street said it did not want to comment on what was a private matter for the Cameron family.
A spokesperson added: “The government’s tax reforms are about making sure that some of the richest people in the country pay a decent share of income tax.”
- The spokeswoman confirmed that HMRC was already investigating tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance and that it wanted to see what new evidence was in the Panama Papers.
- She claimed that Cameron’s decision to push for more global transparency on tax at the G8 summit in 2013 was paying off. At the time no countries were committed to automatic information exchange on tax transparency, she said. She said that now 90 countries have signed up to this principle. “We are leading the pack internationally [on this issue]”, she said.
- She rejected suggestions that Britain’s crown dependencies and overseas territories are refusing to create registers showing the beneficial ownership of companies. Cameron has urged them to do this, but progress has been slow. The spokeswoman said this was discussed with the crown dependencies and overseas territories at a ministerial council in December and that they were all committed to implementing “some form of that system”. If they did not, Cameron “rules nothing out” in terms of taking further action, she said
Updated
I’m just back from a long Number 10 lobby briefing that was taken up almost entirely with questions about steel and about the Panama Papers tax leaks. (The only other topic that came up was the Archers’ domestic abuse storyline, but the prime minister’s spokeswoman did not know whether David Cameron is an Archers listener.)
On steel, various meeting are taking place today and Cameron is meeting Carwyn Jones, the Welsh first minister, to discuss this tomorrow. The spokeswoman confirmed that the government is considering measures to help Tata sell the Port Talbot plant. She defended the government’s stance on EU steel tariffs, and implied that Boris Johnson was wrong to argue that being in the EU was making it harder for the government to protect the steel industry.
And on the Panama Papers, the spokeswoman said the government was still pushing crown dependencies and overseas territories to establish registers showing beneficial ownership. If they did not act, Cameron ruled nothing out, she said.
Asked about the fact that Cameron’s family used Panama as an offshore tax haven, the spokeswoman said she had nothing to add to what was said when this story first ran in 2012. Asked if Cameron’s family still had money in these funds, she replied: “That’s a private matter.”
I will post a more detailed summary shortly.
Sadiq Khan says he favours English tests for Uber drivers
Sadiq Khan, Labour’s candidate for London mayor, was interviewed by the BBC’s Norman Smith in the back of black cab this morning on the Victoria Derbyshire show. Here are the key points he made.
- Khan said that he was in favour of English tests for Uber drivers. Asked if he preferred using Uber or black cabs, he replied: “I’m both an Uber and a black cab man.” But he also said that he wanted to “level the playing field” between the two sectors and that he wanted to “level up” standards for Uber and other private hire vehicles.
Rather than levelling down your high standards, let’s level up the private hire vehicle standards. So, for example, basic knowledge, speaking English, doing the security checks ...
When asked if this meant Uber drivers having to pass English tests, he said that is what he favoured.
We’ll need to. We’ll need to bring up their standards ... Basic English should be a requirement if you are a public servant. In my view, if you are in any public facing job, you should be able to speak basic English.
- He said he did not regret nominating Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership. He did not vote for Corbyn, he said. But he nominated him because he thought it would be wrong to exclude him from the ballot paper.
- He said that he did not think there were too many immigrants in the UK. What was important was to plan for the number of immigrants coming to the country, he said.
" Ere guess who I had in the back of my cab ?" @SadiqKhan on immigration,flip flops and London on @VictoriaLIVE pic.twitter.com/elkGM0rhJm
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) April 4, 2016
I’m off to the Number 10 lobby briefing now. I will post again after 11.30am.
The Labour MP Stephen Kinnock has been tweeting about the Guardian’s story about Sajid Javid, the business secretary, being listed as a participant last month at a US conference organised by a rightwing libertarian thinktank,which took place after a delegation of Labour MPs had failed to secure a meeting with him to discuss the steel industry crisis.
1/2 How should the SoS for BIS be prioritising his time? Should he be: a) standing up for UK steel...
— Stephen Kinnock MP (@SKinnock) April 4, 2016
2/2 or b) attending a hard-right conference in the US...https://t.co/7y3tWblK60
— Stephen Kinnock MP (@SKinnock) April 4, 2016
Earlier I said the Welsh assembly was returning early from its Easter break to discuss the Port Talbot steelworks crisis. As Vintagebeauty points out in the comments, that it not quite right because the assembly had dissolved ahead of the elections. It was not due to meet again until after the voting in May but it has been recalled. I’ve amended the earlier post.
UPDATE: I’ve been taken to task again. This is from mavric1 in the comments.
Andrew, reluctant as I am to be picky, I believe the Welsh Assembly Dissolution will begin on Wednesday 6 April.
The Easter Recess lasts till 5 April.
It’s an important point as on the 6 April the AMs stop being AMs.
Updated
HMRC to investigate Panama Papers offshore tax revelations
HM Revenue and Customs has said that it wants to investigate evidence of tax avoidance and money laundering contained in the leaked Panama Papers covered extensively in today’s Guardian. It has approached the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which includes the Guardian, for access to the material.
This is from HMRC’s director-general of enforcement and compliance, Jennie Grainger.
HMRC can confirm that we have already received a great deal of information on offshore companies, including in Panama, from a wide range of sources, which is currently the subject of intensive investigation.
We have asked the ICIJ to share the leaked data that they have obtained with us. We will closely examine this data and will act on it swiftly and appropriately.
Our message is clear: there are no safe havens for tax evaders and no-one should be in any doubt that the days of hiding money offshore are gone. The dishonest minority, who can most afford it, must pay their legal share of tax, like the honest majority already does.
There is much more about the reaction to the Panama Papers leaks, from the UK and from around the world, on Peter Walker’s live blog.
Corbyn invited to speak from the main stage at Glastonbury
Jeremy Corbyn has been invited to speak at Glastonbury, the Daily Mirror reports. Here is the Press Association’s write-up.
Labour’s leader and shadow chancellor have been invited to speak at this year’s Glastonbury festival.
Jeremy Corbyn has been asked to address more than 130,000 music fans from the main stage on the final day of the hugely popular event, sources told the Press Association.
John McDonnell has been invited to speak at the festival’s Left Field, where pop and politics mix.
The line-up of speakers and groups at the Left Field is being organised by singer and activist Billy Bragg.
Union leaders have taken part in debates at Glastonbury in previous years but Corbyn would be the first party leader to appear.
Most people attending the festival will be in Glastonbury on June 23, the day of the European Union referendum.
A Labour party source confirmed Mr Corbyn had been invited.
Adele and Muse are among the headline acts at the festival, which takes place from June 22 to 26.
Good morning. The House of Commons is still in recess, but in Cardiff the Welsh assembly has been recalled to discuss the Port Talbot steelworks crisis. That is one of several developments in the Tata story. Here are the others.
- Boris Johnson, the Conservative MP and mayor of London and leading Brexit campaigner, has used his Telegraph column to say that what has happened to Port Talbot highlights the advantages of leaving the EU.
[The Port Talbot steelworkers] make superb quality steel. They offer it at a reasonable price. It is just that the Wales plant has been overwhelmed by a series of misfortunes over which they – the workers – have absolutely no control; and these misfortunes, moreover, arise in policy areas over which these workers might reasonably expect their elected government to have some control, but which the UK has simply lost; abandoned; surrendered; supinely given up as part of our membership of the EU ...
It is one of the features of membership [of the EU] that we must not only accept that about 60 per cent of our legislation – primary and secondary – comes from the EU. We must also accept a fatal loss of flexibility, an inability to take decisions that might be in our national interest – and an inability even to make good our own mistakes.
Take the glut of Chinese steel. It seems that the EU Commission has been considering a broad range of anti-dumping measures for some time. It is also clear that before Tata took the decision to close Port Talbot, the UK was one of the countries to be lobbying against such tariffs. Some have suggested that this was out of a general desire to suck up to the Chinese; others that it was a principled aversion to tariffs, and recognition that such import duties would hit domestic consumers of steel. Since the Port Talbot crisis blew up, the story seems to have changed. We are now told that the UK does indeed favour anti-dumping measures, though not of the kind that the EU Commission has been proposing.
The result? Probably nothing. Nothing will happen in the near future, if ever, because there is no agreement round the table in Brussels. Even when we want to change tack on tariffs, we can’t – because we have given up control.
- Unions are preparing to meet in London to discuss the crisis in the steel industry.
- Two “little-known financiers” are putting the finishing touches to plans to buy the Scunthorpe steelworks from Tata, the Daily Telegraph reports. They reportedly want to revive the name “British Steel”. The Telegraph also says it is thought “the entrepreneurs could then look at a possible deal to save the iconic Port Talbot plant in south Wales.”
TELEGRAPH: British Steel to rise from ashes #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/QmScAw7pV2
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) April 3, 2016
Here is the agenda for the day.
11am: Number 10 lobby briefing.
Morning: Nick Gibb, the schools minister, addresses the ATL teachers’ union conference.
1pm: Union leaders meet in London to discuss the crisis in the steel industry.
1.30pm: The Welsh assembly holds an emergency session to discuss the crisis affecting the Port Talbot steelworks.
I will be covering the steel story in detail but, as usual, I will also be covering other breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I will post a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.
If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on@AndrewSparrow.
I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time. Alternatively you could post a question to me on Twitter.
If you think there are any voices that I’m leaving out, particularly political figures or organisations giving alternative views of the stories I’m covering, do please flag them up below the line (include “Andrew” in the post). I can’t promise to include everything, but I do try to be open to as wide a range of perspectives as possible.
Updated
