The UK’s biggest steel producer needs about £500m in government support to see it through the coronavirus crisis, according to Welsh MP Stephen Kinnock. Tata Steel has approached the UK and Welsh governments for a bailout after its big European customers halted production, Sky News reported on Saturday. Discussions are said to be underway with the Treasury and the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The company employs 8,385 people across the UK, including more than 4,000 workers at the Port Talbot steelworks in south Wales. Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock raised the issue on Wednesday, urging the government to raise the limit on its Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme. “The government [CLBILS] is capped at £50m, which is only one 10th of what Tata Steel believes will be the cashflow impact on the company over a six-month period,” he said. “Will the government now urgently take steps to lift the loan cap to a level that will give our steel industry a fighting chance of surviving this crisis?” In reply the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, said: “I know that the chancellor is looking carefully at the steel sector in the hon. gentleman’s constituency, and at all those who are not directly benefiting from this particular scheme to ensure that in the round we are providing the measures that we need in a targeted way to support all the different crucial elements of the economy.” This weekend a Tata Steel spokesman told Sky News: “We continue to work with both the UK and Welsh governments to identify what support is available.” A UK government spokesperson said: “The government has put together a far-reaching package of support to help businesses through the coronavirus pandemic. “We continue to regularly engage with businesses across all sectors, including those in the steel industry.”