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| Rethink over offer to save jobs | |
| (about 15 hours later) | |
| The owners of Anglesey Aluminium are to reconsider a UK Government rescue deal worth almost £50m to help safeguard hundreds of jobs at the Holyhead plant. | |
| Politicians discussed the package with the plant's owners in a three-hour meeting in London on Monday. | |
| The plant's majority shareholder, Rio Tinto Alcan, had originally rejected the offer, saying it was too little. | |
| Secretary of State for Wales Peter Hain said the board members would discuss it further on Tuesday. | |
| Last week the company announced 250 redundancies, following 140 voluntary redundancies the previous week. If the plant closes, 80 people will be kept on to maintain the site. | |
| The plant currently buys electricity cheaply from the nearby Wylfa Power Station. | The plant currently buys electricity cheaply from the nearby Wylfa Power Station. |
| Jobs will be lost, and metal production will come to an end on the site at the end of September, when that deal comes to an end. | |
| I hope the full board will carefully reconsider our generous offer and the obligation they have to the people of Anglesey Secretary of State Peter Hain | |
| Before the meeting, Mr Hain said there was a "glimmer" of hope the plant could be saved. | Before the meeting, Mr Hain said there was a "glimmer" of hope the plant could be saved. |
| One way forward would be to rearrange the rescue package, he said. | One way forward would be to rearrange the rescue package, he said. |
| "It would remain in the same envelope - same total over four years, but given the high price of aluminium it could be front loaded," he said. | "It would remain in the same envelope - same total over four years, but given the high price of aluminium it could be front loaded," he said. |
| Mr Hain denied the rescue package would only provide a short-term solution, because part of the "obligation and purpose" of the money was to construct a new bio-mass power station on the site, to provide "long-term, secure" electricity supply. | Mr Hain denied the rescue package would only provide a short-term solution, because part of the "obligation and purpose" of the money was to construct a new bio-mass power station on the site, to provide "long-term, secure" electricity supply. |
| "If we can keep the company going, and the plant going, over that period, which is what the public investment is about, then it has a secure future," he said. | "If we can keep the company going, and the plant going, over that period, which is what the public investment is about, then it has a secure future," he said. |
| "The question is how we get from A to B." | "The question is how we get from A to B." |
| In a statement issued after the meeting, Mr Hain said that the directors from Rio Tinto Alcan and Kaiser Aluminium - who own Anglesey Aluminium - agreed they wanted to keep the plant open were it not for the high cost of electricity. | In a statement issued after the meeting, Mr Hain said that the directors from Rio Tinto Alcan and Kaiser Aluminium - who own Anglesey Aluminium - agreed they wanted to keep the plant open were it not for the high cost of electricity. |
| "They also agreed that Anglesey Aluminium remains a high performing and efficient plant, one of the best in the world," he said. | "They also agreed that Anglesey Aluminium remains a high performing and efficient plant, one of the best in the world," he said. |
| "We all understand the commercial pressures under which Anglesey Aluminium currently operates but I hope the full board will carefully reconsider our generous offer and the obligation they have to the people of Anglesey following 40 years of aluminium production on the island." | "We all understand the commercial pressures under which Anglesey Aluminium currently operates but I hope the full board will carefully reconsider our generous offer and the obligation they have to the people of Anglesey following 40 years of aluminium production on the island." |