THE man behind the employee buyout bid for Tata Steel’s under-threat UK plants has said the organisation formed to develop the plan cannot afford to take on the firm’s pension liabilities.

Former hub director of Tata Steel’s Strip Products and chief executive of Excalibur Steel – which was formed to put together the bid by former executives to buy the firm’s UK operations – Stuart Wilkie has said he believes the best option would be to close the current scheme and start a new one.

At the end of March Tata threw the British steel industry into turmoil when it announced it would sell off its entire UK operation – including plans in Llanwern and Port Talbot – putting tens of thousands of jobs at risk.

And speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Mr Wilkie said: "We think it is important that pension is safeguarded for the future.

"An organisation like ourselves could not raise the funds just now to support the pension scheme going forward.

"So we believe it is in the best interest of the pensioners that that scheme is effectively closed and we start with a new scheme."

It has been reported Tata’s £15bn UK pension fund, which has 130,000 members, is £485m in deficit.

But Mr Wilkie denied he was asking taxpayers to pick up the costs.

"Yes, we are clearly asking the government for a 25 per cent contribution which (Business Secretary) Sajid Javid announced last week in relation to the buyout proposal,” he said.

“That's an offer to everyone else.

"If you step back and look at the social consequences should steel-making stop in an area such as Port Talbot or indeed across the UK, the numbers multiply tenfold against that number."

The deadline for formal expressions of interest in Tata’s UK holdings closed earlier this week. Monmouthshire businessman and Liberty Group owner Sanjeev Gupta – who already owns a plant in Newport – has also publicly said he is considering buying Tata’s UK plans.

And on Wednesday First Minister Carwyn Jones told the Argus there had been “several, possibly five or six” official expressions of interest in the plants.