some detailed negotiations have got under way but both sides have adopted a policy of no running commentary. elsewhere, the dispute continues. other health unions are frustrated, even angry that they were not invited into this talks process. they say they have heard nothing from government today. we are looking to get more ambulance strikes we know in march and today the extra date from unison, march eight, with some ambulance services that have not had strikes before and just like nhs blood and transport. then the british medical association, it has a mandate for strikes of 72 hours forjunior doctors. the bma says it discuss today with parliament health officials, which it says was very disappointing with nothing on offer on the table. ministers say they want a meeting with the bma over the junior doctors dispute. the union response is, if that doesn t happen soon then they will confirm strike dates. , ., ., dates. hugh pym, health editor, thank yom the entire future of steel making
running a plant like this. unions fear today s announcement won t be the last and thatjob cuts here will ripple right through the supply chain. well, our fear is that the recent. announcements are probablyjust the tip of the iceberg. and if it closes, i would see scunthorpe as being - almost on its knees. british steel s chinese owners don t deny they are looking to cut costs further, which the unions fear could mean hundreds more redundancies. in fact, they say the entire future of uk steel making is on a knife edge. now, in the past, the government has said that steel making is a strategic interest that it wants to preserve. but recently, the new business secretary said it wasn t a given that the uk needed a domestic steel making industry, which is sending alarm bells ringing here in scunthorpe and at port talbot, in south wales. uk steel production has been steadily falling over decades and our output is now less than a quarter of what it was 50 years ago.
it s disappointing news. hopefully the job losses that are announced, there should be hopefully some redeployment for them with the ageing workforce on the site. do you think we seem to go from crisis to crisis in the steel industry? what s the problem? they re saying its energy prices at the minute. obviously the rising cost of living it uses a lot of electric running a plant like this. unions fear today s announcement won t be the last and thatjob cuts here will ripple right through the supply chain. well, our fear is that the recent announcements are probablyjust the tip of the iceberg. and if it closes, i would see scunthorpe as being almost on its knees. british steel s chinese owners don t deny they are looking to cut costs further, which the unions fear could mean hundreds more redundancies. in fact, they say the entire future of uk steel making is on a knife edge. now in the past, the government has said that steel making is a strategic interest that it
wants to preserve. but recently, the new business secretary said it wasn t a given that the uk needed a domestic steel making industry, which is sending alarm bells ringing here in scunthorpe and at port talbot in south wales. uk steel production has been steadily falling over decades and our output is now less than a quarter of what it was 50 years ago. world steel production is now dominated by china, which produced a billion tonnes of steel last year, with the uk producing less than 1% of that, atjust six million tonnes. steel industry bodies say energy costs are 60% higher here than in germany, for example, and that means the uk just can t compete. unless government absolutely addresses this problem, then we won t have that competitive business landscape in the uk and therefore it doesn t take a rocket scientist to work out that we ll be priced out of the market. the government said today s news was disappointing given negotiations are ongoing to provide british steel and port talb
is a strategic interest that it wants to preserve. but recently, the new business secretary said it wasn t a given that the uk needed a domestic steel making industry, which is sending alarm bells ringing here in scunthorpe and at port talbot in south wales. uk steel production has been steadily falling over decades, and our output is now less than a quarter of what it was 50 years ago. world steel production is now dominated by china, which produced a billion tonnes of steel last year, with the uk producing less than 1% of that, atjust six million tonnes. steel industry bodies say energy costs are 60% higher here than in germany, for example, and that means the uk just can t compete. unless government absolutely addresses this problem, then we won t have that competitive business landscape in the uk and therefore it doesn t take a rocket scientist to work out that we ll be priced out of the market. the government said today s news was disappointing given negotiations