Fears about fresh job losses in the steel industry have been confirmed after Tata announced plans to cut 1,200 posts.
Around 900 jobs will be cut from the firm's giant plant in Scunthorpe, with 270 in Scotland and a small number in other sites.
The firm said the cuts were in response to a shift in market conditions caused by a "flood" of cheap imports, particularly from China, a strong pound and high electricity prices.
The latest bad news follows the announcement that the Thai owners of the Redcar steelworks on Teesside, SSI, had gone into liquidation with the loss of 2,200 jobs, then Caparo went into administration yesterday.
Tata Steel workers on their phones after a meeting at the Tata Steel plant in Motherwell, as fears about fresh job losses in the steel industry have been confirmed after Tata announced plans to cut 1,200 posts
Karl Koehler, chief executive of Tata Steel's European operations, said: "I realise how distressing this news will be for all those affected. We have looked at all other options before proposing these changes.
"We will work closely with affected employees and their trade union representatives. We will look to redeploy employees, wherever possible, and minimise employee hardship.
"The UK steel industry is struggling for survival in the face of extremely challenging market conditions.
"This industry has a crucial role to play in rebalancing the UK economy, but we need a fairer system to encourage growth. The European Commission needs to do much more to deal with unfairly traded imports - inaction threatens the future of the entire European steel industry."