IN the debate concerning the British steel industry and to what degree the government should become involved, I cannot help thinking that there are a certain amount of ‘crocodile tears’ being emitted by Tata when it comes to their UK operation.

In fact, we have heard very little from the family, who actually own the  Tata group.

This is a phenomenally wealthy Indian dynasty, the head of which, Mr Cyrus Mistry, has a personal fortune of £15 billion.

The Tata group holdings consist of over 100 companies worldwide, including Jaguar Land Rover, which all operate independently and, unbelievably, do not guarantee to buy steel made by Tata, not even those operating in this country like Jaguar.

In total, these holdings are estimated to return a  revenue of more than £100 billion per annum.

The UK section of Tata Steel was also making a healthy profit for a number of years until the recent downturn in the industry, caused by the dumping of cheap Chinese steel.

Considering that it is a known fact that all industries experience lean times as well as profitable times in their trading cycle, should we not expect a company of Tata’s magnitude to at least buy its own produce and endeavour to weather the storm until an upturn in the industry, irrespective  of government support or not.

After all, the £300 million a year that the UK arm of its steel business is losing is a trifle compared to Tata’s overall profits.

Also, it has emerged that Tata has sold its excess pollution vouchers on the “green” market and made a huge profit, which is  enough to offset the energy prices that they say are crippling their efforts to continue making steel in the UK.

– P Young, Chepstow.