Plaid demands Wales gets ‘fair share’ of £2.5bn steel fund as PM visits Port Talbot

Emily Price

Plaid Cymru has called for Wales to receive a fair share of the UK Government’s £2.5bn steel fund following the Prime Minister’s visit to Port Talbot.

Member of the Senedd for Afan Ogwr Rhondda Elyn Stephens urged the Westminster government to ensure funding is available to support Welsh steel sites and communities through the transition to green steelmaking.

Stephens said communities in Wales had been “let down” by the UK Government in the past and urged ministers to ensure Port Talbot receives what she described as its fair share of the funding.

The calls came as Andy Burnham arrived in Wales for his first official visit as Prime Minister, meeting with apprentices and workers at Tata Steel in Port Talbot as part of his “listening tour” of the UK.

Plaid Cymru MPs have previously called for the Steel Fund to be ringfenced to guarantee funding for steel sites across Wales.

However, UK Government ministers has so far declined to make such a commitment.

During a June 2026 session of Wales Questions in the House of Commons, Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader, Liz Saville Roberts urged the Wales Office to “stand up for Welsh interests”.

She called for the UK Government’s Steel Fund to be ringfenced to “guarantee a fair share of the Steel Fund to all steel sites in Wales”.

In response, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales Anna McMorrin deflected the specific request for a ringfenced guarantee and instead pointed to the broader UK steel strategy.

Ms Saville Roberts said a major fire at Port Talbot steelworks had caused substantial damage, but claimed that not a single penny of Labour’s £2.5bn Steel Fund had been guaranteed for the site or any other steel site in Wales, despite the fund being intended to support the transition to green steelmaking.

The party’s Westminster leader accused McMorrin of of “muddying the waters” adding that while millions were being spent to support steel at Scunthorpe, Wales had received nothing.

In 2024, the Labour UK Government committed to investing £500 million for the Electric Arc Furnace at Port Talbot Steelworks.

However, this funding was entirely separate from the Steel Fund, of which nothing has yet been committed to Wales.

Plaid Cymru Member of the Senedd for Afan Ogwr Rhondda, Elyn Stephens said: “Communities across Afan Ogwr Rhondda know all too well what it’s like to be let down by the UK Government. They rightfully took action to save thousands of jobs in Scunthorpe, but left Welsh communities and livelihoods high and dry when we needed it most.

“While today’s visit by the Prime Minister to Port Talbot will not right any past wrongs, we can certainly shape the future, ensure that the transition is a success and demand that Port Talbot get its fair share of the UK Government’s £2.5bn steel fund – to support workers and communities through this transition.

“Plaid Cymru will never stop fighting for the fairness our communities deserve.”

During Burnham’s visit to south Wales today he was also pressed by journalists on whether the newly elected Plaid Cymru Welsh Government would be granted control over the Crown Estate in Wales.

The Prime Minister said Plaid would be “given a fair hearing” when leaders of devolved nations meet in October.

The Prime Minister was asked by reporters if he saw merit in giving Wales’ devolved government control over the company, as the Scottish Government has, which administers the holdings of the Monarch, including the seabed where offshore wind farms are placed.

Mr Burnham replied: “I’ve called the National Economic Council for October, and one of the messages that I will want to give to all of the first ministers, but including the new First Minister of Wales at that meeting, is that No 10 North is as much at your disposal as it is at the disposal of the devolved areas of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and as requests come for further devolution, they will be given a fair hearing.

“I’m not making any commitments today because it needs to be done carefully in a proper way, but obviously, that is what devolution should be about.

“I used to do it as myself, as mayor of Greater Manchester, we would make requests and it’s proper for devolved entities to make those requests. But you know, there then has to be a process for considering the issues involved.

“So that is part of why we’ve called the meeting. But I do also want to consider where we may deepen devolution here to get the growth mission being felt in a real way in all parts of in all parts of Wales.”

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