Plaid Cymru leader calls for Port Talbot investment after British Steel deal

Plaid Cymru’s leader Rhun ap Iorwerth has urged both the UK and Welsh Labour Governments to commit to significant investment in Port Talbot following the closure of TATA Steel’s last blast furnace in September last year.

Mr ap Iorwerth made the comments on a visit to the town in the aftermath of the emergency measures taken in recent days by the UK Government to safeguard the future of British Steel’s Scunthorpe works.

Accompanied by the party’s spokesperson for Economy and Energy Luke Fletcher, he met with residents and former steel workers on Tuesday (15 April) to hear directly from the community how both Governments must now develop a strategy that ensures a future of steelmaking in Port Talbot.

Betrayed

Speaking after the visit, Mr Rhun ap Iorwerth said: “This is a community angry at having been betrayed following the UK Government’s decision to take control of British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant when the same offer of job preservation was not afforded to Port Talbot.

“Now we in Plaid Cymru will do all we can to fight for the investment needed here, so the UK Labour Government delivers on its so-called enhanced deal and ensures adequate investment for Port Talbot from the UK Government’s £2.5bn steel fund and puts together a strategy for the future.

“It was in the gift of the Labour UK government, just as the last Conservative government, to respond to the crisis in Port Talbot in the same way in which it is responding to the crisis in Scunthorpe – if only the Tories and Labour cared about the future of Port Talbot when it really mattered.

“Now, Labour cannot simply dismiss our demands in the same way that they did when we sought for nationalisation of the steelworks to be put on the table. Further inaction is not an option – they owe it to the community of Port Talbot.”

Plaid Cymru has written to the Welsh Government Trefnydd seeking an assurance that they will table a debate in Government time to discuss the impact of the UK Government’s emergency steel legislation and its implications for Wales.

On Monday, The Senedd’s Llywydd rejected demands for Wales’ parliament to be recalled to discuss the Welsh steel industry.

A spokesperson for Presiding Officer Elin Jones said the emergency law passed in Westminster at the weekend to take control of beleaguered British Steel “was relevant only to England”.

Serious questions

Luke Fletcher added: “We must be able to hold the Labour Welsh Government to account at the earliest opportunity.

“There are serious questions to be answered by this Labour Welsh Government on the discussions they have held with their UK Government counterparts about the future of steelmaking in Wales, on the impact the emergency legislation will have on the anticipated Steel Strategy, and what additional financial support will be offered to those in Port Talbot who have lost their livelihoods given that they were not afforded the same safeguards as the Scunthorpe workforce.

“The Labour Welsh Government must now commit to our demand for an urgent debate in the Senedd at the very earliest possibility so that these questions can be asked on behalf of the workforce, and the wider community of Port Talbot who feel let down entirely.”

The closure of the final blast furnace in Port Talbot last September saw nearly 2,000 jobs lost at Tata Steel UK’s plant.

The steelworks is currently in a transition phase until 2027 when steelmaking will resume thanks to  a £1.25 billion electric arc furnace.