Ben Birchall/PA
The owner of steel giant Tata raked in £3 billion in pre-tax profits last year and has paid out dividends of £1.4 billion to shareholders between 2019 and 2023, according to Unite the Union.
Steelworkers have reacted with dismay after Tata confirmed plans to close blast furnaces at its biggest UK plant, with the loss of thousands of jobs, sparking warnings of industrial action.
Opposition parties criticised the Government for not doing enough to save the British steel industry, while environmental campaigners said a lack of a forward-thinking industrial strategy had left workers “high and dry”.
Tata said continued blast furnace production was “not feasible or affordable”, but analysis of their accounts suggests that their pleas of poverty could be a sham.
According to Unite, Tata Steel Limited, the direct parent company of Tata Steel UK Limited made £3 billion in EBITDA and £900 million in net profits in 2022/23.
Tata Steel Limited has reserves of £1.6 billion and has paid out dividends of £1.4 billion to shareholders between 2019 and 2023.
The firm has also received a £500 million subsidy paid for by the British taxpayer to help pay for the new electric arc furnace at the site.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Tata’s pleas of poverty have been exposed as a sham. They are making money hand over fist and will only profit from bringing in more Indian and Dutch steel to the UK if we cut capacity.
“It is unbelievable that the government is going along with this. Rather than demanding that the needed investment comes with jobs guarantees and growth for UK steel – they are giving Tata half a billion of taxpayers’ money to slash its workforce and flood the UK with foreign steel.
“Port Talbot is far from the basket case that Tata has painted it as, there is an underlying healthy business, which could be transformed by serious investment to increase capacity, with the UK becoming the green capital of steel.”
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