Jeremy Corbyn stepped up his attack on the Government’s handling of the threat to Britain’s biggest steel producer, challenging it to take a public stake in the beleaguered industry.

The Labour leader paid a high-profile visit to Port Talbot hours after the decision to put the South Wales plant up for sale was announced – and while Mr Cameron and the Business Secretary, Sajid Javid, were out of the country.

More than 120,000 people have signed his petition calling for Parliament to be recalled early to discuss the fate of steelmaking and demanding the government acts immediately to “protect the steel industry and the core of manufacturing in Britain”.

Mr Corbyn said the Prime Minister had offered “no solutions” to the Tata crisis.

“It is not good enough for David Cameron to stand by and say the situation is difficult,” he said.