STEEL bosses have rejected Labour pleas to keep Tata Steel’s blast furnaces open and will press on with the shutdown, cutting thousands of jobs in south Wales.

Tata Steel’s move came a week before steelworkers start an overtime ban on June 18 as part of industrial action to stop the job losses and closure of the blast furnace.

The snub came in a stock market update today despite First Minister Vaughan Gething and Labour shadow ministers going to Port Talbot on Monday to urge the company to delay the decision until after the general election.