The chief executive of Neath Port Talbot Council has backed nationalisation of Tata Steel’s plant in South Wales, The MJ can reveal.

A decision by the Indian firm to pull out of the UK and sell-off its steel plants at sites across the country including Port Talbot is expected to put thousands of jobs at risk.

UK business minister Anna Soubry this morning told the BBC the Government was considering ‘all options’ for finding a solution at the site, opening up the potential for national buy-out.

Stephen Phillips, chief executive of Neath Port Talbot Council, has now told The MJ that he ‘would support a government acquisition’ and demanded ‘urgent action’ at a national level.

He warned ‘time is of the essence’ at the site if the 10,000 jobs at Tata and the wider supply chain were to be protected.

‘Any solution that preserves those jobs in the short to med term has to be worth examining,’ Mr Phillips said.

‘I would support a government acquisition. Frankly, we’re not in a position to pick and choose. If there is a prospect of a sustainable disposal to a third party so be it, if that requires the Government to intervene on a temporary or permanent basis so be it.

‘The priority is to preserve what is not only a foundation industry but what is critically important to the economic wellbeing of not only Port Talbot but the whole of the South Wales region as well.’

He added that the issue was now ‘a matter for national government’ and vowed the council would ‘play our full part’ in safeguarding local jobs.

In a statement issued overnight, Tata Steel highlighted its ‘deep concern’ for the ‘deteriorating financial performance’ of its UK wing and said it would ‘explore all options for portfolio restructuring’.