Tata agrees Port Talbot deal with National Grid despite union criticism

New furnaces will be powered by electricity from 2027 but up to 2,800 workers will be made redundant

Tata Steel has reached a deal with the UK's electricity grid to start supplying the energy for new furnaces in south Wales from 2027, as the company moves ahead with its plan despite union opposition.

The agreement with the National Grid's electricity supply operator (ESO), the company that controls how energy is moved around Great Britain, will provide hundreds of millions of megawatts of power to a new electric arc furnace at the steelworks in Port Talbot.