The British government and Tata of India said they would invest 1.25 billion pounds in a plan to convert the steel mill at Port Talbot in Wales to an electric furnace.

The British government and the Indian conglomerate Tata said on Wednesday that they would jointly invest 1.25 billion pounds, or about $1.6 billion, in the country’s largest steel mill, in Port Talbot, Wales, to make operations there less polluting.

As part of the overhaul, about 2,800 of the company’s 8,000 steel jobs in Britain will be lost over time, a spokesman for Tata said, in part because the electric technology will require fewer workers.

Still, the plan was, from the point of view of employees, an improvement on a proposal announced last year when Britain’s Conservative government was in power. Both deals include the same £500 million in government support, but workers facing layoffs will now be offered the option for paid

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