ommenting on reports that Tata steel are rushing to close the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS) to avoid a £60m payment that is due into the scheme, Stephen Kinnock, Member of Parliament for Aberavon said:

“It is an absolute disgrace if these reports [that Tata are rushing to close the BSPS to avoid a £60m payment that is due] are true. Tata have not only legal, but also moral and social responsibilities to the members of the BSPS and the workforce across the UK.

“To seek to escape those responsibilities and avoid their obligations, by exploiting a technicality, is not only a slap in the face to the workers and pensioners who have sough to work with the company to find a resolution, but it should trouble us all.

“For this news to leak out in the manner that it has threatens to fracture the trust upon which these negotiations have been based.

“I hope that Tata will now stand by their obligations to pensioners and steelworkers and come out to disown these deeply troubling reports in the strongest possible terms.”