Tata Steel's plans to sell Port Talbot site are to be put on hold

Tata Steel UK is expected to announce that it intends to put plans to sell most of its UK business on hold, including the Port Talbot site.

Increasing steel prices and a number of incentives from the government to keep the business running have seen the steelmaker adopt a more relaxed approach over the last couple of weeks, with the sale of its UK operations no longer as pressing a matter as it was a few months ago.

However, according to the BBC, the company will go ahead with the sale of its sites in Hartlepool, Rotherham and Stocksbridge, which employ 2,000 staff across the group's steel making division.

Tata's decision to "pause" the sale of the remainder of its UK business will mean the future of 9,000 employees will remain unclear for a while.

Meanwhile, Sajid Javid, the UK business secretary, will fly to Mumbai to hold talks with the senior management of Tata Steel on the sale process of the company's UK steel business, which has been put on hold after the Brexit vote. Tata will hold a board meeting on Friday (8 July).

Business minister Anna Soubry has indicated the financial incentives offered by the UK government to Tata Steel prior to the Brexit vote will remain on offer. The plans include the government acquiring a 25% stake in Tata UK, providing a loan of hundreds of millions of pounds, implementing changes to energy prices to bring down the cost of production, and a reform of the British Steel Pension Scheme.

"The relationship we have with Tata, we should not be pessimistic," said Soubry. "We turned them round from their position in March, which was they were going to close Port Talbot."