Some weeks ago the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Steel invited Karl-Ulrich Köhler, Chief Executive of Tata Steel Europe to brief the group on the crisis in industrial relations occurring across Tata Steel’s UK operations. Late last week the APPG was informed by Tata Steel that they would be sending a small team of more junior executives to the meeting that was due to take place this afternoon.

The APPG met this afternoon and decided unanimously to cancel the meeting. Stephen Kinnock, Member of Parliament for Aberavon and a member of the APPG, said:

“It’s completely unacceptable that Tata Steel feel that they can send their middle management to the Houses of Parliament to brief the parliamentary representatives of thousands of steelworkers. It’s clear, following the emphatic result of the strike ballot last Friday that we must hear directly from the horses’ mouth. It is therefore essential that Mr Köhler finds time in his schedule to brief the APPG in person before the middle of June.”