Tyne Tees Money

Tata steel has had no contact with senior government ministers since they announced they were selling its UK assets, ITV News has learned.

Correspondent Romilly Weeks told News At Ten: "Incredibly sources within Tata are telling us that they have had no contact, at this crucial juncture for the British steel industry, with any senior government ministers today."

The British side of Tata Steel is currently losing £1 million a day and could close altogether if a buyer - or several buyers - are not found soon.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell says the government needs to act immediately to take a public stake in the steel sector in the wake of Tata's decision to sell off its UK businesses.

He says we need to work with our European partners to protect against the dumping of Chinese steel on the international market as part of a long term strategy to make the UK market viable.

Watch his full interview:

Workers union Unite has urged Prime Minister David Cameron to take 'personal responsibility' for the steel crisis.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today show Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said it was time for No 10 to "protect our industry" and a steel "taskforce" should be set up with the PM at its head.

He said: "This is an industrial crisis of enormous proportions, not just affecting the 40, 50 or 60,000 jobs, but indeed affecting the whole of our manufacturing base.

" I want the Government to protect our industry. I don't care what semantics we talk but I also want a message sent out to Tata, don't be thinking that this is going to be a fire sale and you're going to disappear in three or four weeks.

"Let's set up a steel taskforce with the Prime Minister at its head."

A petition, urging the Prime Minister to recall parliament to discuss the UK steel crisis has attracted more than 100,000 signatures.

The call to action was set up by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as the industry crisis escalated in the wake of Tata Steel's decision to sell off its UK assets.

The petition, which has only been live for one day, has now exceeded the number of signatures needed to be considered for a debate in parliament.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said the government is "doing everything it can" to try to secure the future of steel making in Port Talbot and elsewhere in the UK but has warned "there can be no guarantees of success".

Speaking following an emergency steel crisis meeting to discuss the future of the industry after Tata Steel said it was selling off its UK assets he said the focus was now on finding a buyer.

After the meeting Cameron also tweeted that workers and their families would remain a "priority" while trying to find a solution to the current steel industry crisis.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said the Government is "doing everything it can" to resolve the steel crisis but nationalisation is not the right answer.

Stating that the situation at Port Talbot was of "deep concern" he admitted he wasn't ruling nationalisation out but he did not believe it was the answer.