Call to safeguard Welsh steel as Plaid proposes Steel Bill amendments

Emily Price

A Plaid Cymru MP has tabled amendments to the Steel Bill calling for the safeguarding of future steelmaking in Wales.

The Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill would allow the UK Government to acquire a “strategic steel undertaking” if it considers acquisition to be in public interest.

The legislation is intended to keep strategically important steelworks operating and safeguard jobs, skills, assets and supply chains where steelmaking or ironmaking capacity is at risk from closure, insolvency or disruptions to domestic supply.

The UK Government says that this will enable it to nationalise British Steel, subject to a public interest test being met.

Plaid Cymru MP for Caerfyrddin, Ann Davies, has tabled three amendments to the Bill which she says will strengthen protections and funding for steel communities in Wales.

She says that the closure of the blast furnaces in Port Talbot in 2024 stands as the “most painful example of the recent neglect of Wales’ industrial communities”.

Ms Davies accused the UK Government of taking what she described as “extraordinary steps” to protect steelworks in Scunthorpe and Rotherham, while failing to intervene in the same way at Port Talbot, where 2,800 jobs were lost at Tata Steel in 2024.

‘Different’

Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens previously described the situation in Scunthorpe as being “very different” to that in Port Talbot.

“It’s the only site in the UK where virgin steel is made, and that’s why it’s a matter of national importance, strategic importance,” she said.

In contrast, Port Talbot’s blast furnaces were allowed to close because their Indian owners had already secured a £1.25bn transition deal to switch to greener electric arc furnaces.

The deal was negotiated by the previous Conservative government in Westminster.

Labour argued that although they were not able to reopen that deal, they did negotiate a “better deal”.

Fire

Ms Davies will give a speech during a House of Commons on Monday (8 June) when she is expected to say that the need for certainty is “not theoretical”, citing the recent major fire at Port Talbot which caused significant disruption.

The Plaid MP will also argue that reported delays to the plans for the electric furnace due to problems with electrical connectivity only reinforces concerns that Welsh steel is treated as an “afterthought rather than a priority”.

For her first amendment, Ms Davies would require the UK Government to consider nationalising steel sites in Wales to prevent job losses and stop the closure of Welsh steel plants.

She says this will ensure that a situation like the mass job losses at Port Talbot won’t happen again.

Her second amendment would require that whenever funding is provided to sites in England, equivalent funding must also be provided to sites in Wales.

The third amendment would prevent financial assistance from being drawn from the National Wealth Fund, which is the main source of the UK Government’s £2.5 billion steel fund.

She says this would help ringfence the Steel Fund so it can be used to invest in Welsh steel sites.

‘Neglected’

Speaking ahead of the debate in the House of Commons, Ms Davies said: “Industrial communities in Wales know all too well the consequences of being left behind and neglected when support is needed most.

“Port Talbot stands as the most painful example – where the blast furnaces were allowed to close in 2024 resulting in thousands of job losses and devastating a community that had a proud history of making primary steel for over a 100 years.

“When the future of Port Talbot’s steelworks hung in the balance, Plaid Cymru argued that everything, including nationalisation, should be on the table, yet those calls were both mocked and ignored.

“However, when the future of steel production in Scunthorpe and Rotherham came under threat, the UK Government was prepared to take extraordinary steps to protect jobs and safeguard strategic industry.

“Now, we know there will be further delays to the plans for a £1.25bn electric steel-making furnace in Port Talbot due to problems with electrical connectivity.

“This only reinforces concerns that Welsh steel has too often been treated as an afterthought rather than a priority.

“This Bill provides an opportunity to change that. Wales is home not only to Port Talbot, but also to major steel sites at Trostre, Llanwern, Shotton and Cardiff. These communities deserve the same commitment, protection and investment as has been afforded to other areas of the UK.

“That is why I have tabled amendments to ensure Welsh steel sites receive equivalent support whenever funding is made available in England, and to safeguard resources within the Steel Fund so they can be used to support the transition to low-carbon steelmaking in Wales.”