CORUS' Indian owners Tata have hinted at further job cuts across its steel operations in the UK and the rest of Europe.

Tata Steel's managing director Balasubramanian Muthuraman told The Economic Times in India:

"Lay-offs are inevitable.

"It depends how the market is going to respond. We will take the appropriate action as and when the market evolves.

"Nobody wants to cut jobs but everyone must realise the steel industry is in difficult times all over the world and you will see a major restructuring of the industry in the next couple of years."

The news from India comes less than a week after the Scunthorpe Telegraph reported Corus site director Sean Lyons could not guarantee further jobs would go in the town.

Scunthorpe's main steel union Community issued an immediate challenge to the Tata boss.

General secretary Michael Leahy said: "We challenge Tata and Corus to prove the cuts they are making will serve to ensure the industry has a long-term future. We will oppose any job cuts that undermine this objective.

"More job cuts will further damage the morale of the work force which will affect the many ideas from the shop floor that made a vast contribution to Corus saving £700-million this year.

"Further cuts also run the risk of significantly hurting the infrastructure of the industry with knock-on effects which will harm the entire UK manufacturing sector."

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