Welsh and UK Governments accused of ‘contemptuous betrayal’ of steelworkers in Port Talbot
Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth has accused the Welsh and UK Labour Governments of a ‘contemptuous betrayal’ of steelworkers in Port Talbot.
His comments are included in a letter to the First Minister, written in the aftermath of the passing of emergency legislation on Saturday giving the UK Government the power to instruct British Steel to keep its plant in Scunthorpe open.
Proposals to save the steelworks’ blast furnaces were passed by both the Commons and Lords in a single day unopposed.
The UK Government’s Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds accused the company of failing to negotiate “in good faith” after it decided to stop buying enough raw materials to keep the blast furnaces at Scunthorpe going.
He told MPs: “We could not, will not and never will stand idly by while heat seeps from the UK’s remaining blast furnaces without any planning, any due process or any respect for the consequences.”
Nationalisation
Saturday’s emergency legislation stops short of full nationalisation of British Steel, and ministers remain hopeful that they can secure private investment to save the plant.
But there is currently no private company willing to invest in British Steel, and the Business Secretary acknowledged to the Commons that public ownership remained the “likely option”.
Following Saturday’s vote, Mr ap Iorwerth wrote to Eluned Morgan, urging her to confirm what discussions the Welsh Government has held with the UK Government about the impact the emergency legislation will have on the anticipated Steel Strategy.
He also asked “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”.
‘Dismissive approach’
He wrote: “Maintaining primary steel making capabilities is a strategic imperative, and preserving thousands of jobs is critically important – in Scunthorpe as it would have been in Port Talbot.
“Now that emergency legislation has been passed granting full powers to UK government Ministers to ‘take control’ of British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant, I feel compelled to write to you about your dismissive approach to nationalising the TATA plant in Port Talbot.
“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.
When I pressed the case for nationalisation, you called it a “pipe dream”. Given that your party is rightly now pursuing a course of action which the Business Secretary has confirmed is likely to result in nationalisation, I can only conclude that your dismissive response to my call for nationalisation was a contemptuous betrayal of a loyal and skilled workforce.
“The Labour Welsh Government owes it to that workforce to bring forward an urgent statement confirming what discussions they have held with the UK Government about the future of steelmaking, what 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.
“I am fully supportive of any government interventions which safeguard livelihoods but am angered by Labour’s selective approach which appears to deem that the steel industry of one nation is more worthy of saving than another’s.”
During the debate in the Commons on Saturday, the UK Government’s industry minister Sarah Jones said the different approach was due to Tata’s willingness to invest in Port Talbot, and the changed global circumstances making it necessary to protect the UK’s primary steel-making capacity.
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“During the debate in the Commons on Saturday, the UK Government’s industry minister Sarah Jones said the different approach was due to Tata’s willingness to invest in Port Talbot, and the changed global circumstances making it necessary to protect the UK’s primary steel-making capacity.” While TATA may be more open to negotiation it was only so they could get a £500 million subsidy and yet they still closed the blast furnaces which the Labour Government could have stopped if they had the will. The changed circumstances were forseen by many political commentators as Trump was telegraphing his tariff policies during… Read more »
Always…
These politicians have a screw loose. You cannot, on the one hand, advocate Net Zero, which has pushed industrial energy costs through the roof – and simultaneously lament the loss of Port Talbot’s steel works, as well as a whole swathe of the UK’s industry.
I am honestly staggered at the dire intellectual level of the Uk’s political selection pool – and in Wales it’s worse than anywhere.
It is gas and the war in Ukraine that has vastly boosted energy prices and net zero does not mean the closure of all industrial processes. The most difficult processes would be the last to transition eg hydrogen reduction in steel making or not at all if you can capture the CO2.
Both Labour and Conservatives just wanted to leave everything to some mythical free trade market, you need a plan, a policy and be prepared for the long haul not just a couple of years..
There will be no ‘transition’ anywhere in the near future. The fundamental rule of the grid is that it produces energy on demand. Neither wind nor solar are able to do this…and please don’t cite battery storage as the answer because it’s not.
Dare I say it: nuclear power is the answer.
And I am fully prepared to be down voted and shouted down.
You are correct. There is a big price being paid in terms of jobs and the cost of living which is directly linked to net zero. Lots of talk about green hydrogen, blue hydrogen, carbon capture etc. But meanwhile deindustrialisation proceeds.
Deindustrialisation was the whole point of Thatcherism. It’s a bit much to hear her acolytes bemoan the consequences of getting the rest of the world to make our stuff.
Fair comment. Way back in the 1980s I recall her making a speech in which she asserted that the UK’s future, in terms of national prosperity, would now be built on ‘a service economy’ rather than on an industrial one.
Back then, I recall feeling rather unsure about what she was actually saying. Over forty years later, I now know all too well.
Port Talbot used its own power stations to power the reheat furnaces and provide electricity throughout the plant. Powered by gas extracted from the steel process, in the form of coke gas. You can’t get more net zero than that
So Port Talbot Steel Works was energy self-sufficient…is that your claim?
Which bit about “transitioning” to a better future don’t you get?
The bit where it’s collides with reality.
If you want to make a legitimate point it would be the carbon accounting sleight of hand that let some believe we could reduce our emissions by getting someone else to make our stuff for us. If we still got clobbered for the steel we used as though we’d made it here there would’ve been a much bigger focus on innovation and sustainable alternatives.
“Reality” is an entirely different concept to those who inhabit the green bubble. They can’t tolerate the idea of cleaning up proven technologies, making them more efficient and cost effective because it might still leave one little speck of dust or pollution to damage their vision of a green heaven. Curiously no account is taken of all the damage done in extracting raw materials and process costs in manufacturing their “perfect solutions”.
And oil and gas are clean? Give your head a wobble. The extraction process for all fossil fuels is a dirty business.
it’s crazy how little the EU CBAM is being discussed regarding the recent changes in the steel industry. From the 1st of January all steel entering the EU will be subjected to carbon border taxes (‘carbon certificates’). Hence Tata and British Steel have to modify their manufacturing processes (as the EU is their main market). Having followed the debate for the last few days I’ve come to the conclusion that our journalists and politicians have so little depth of understanding of these technical issues. Really Reform and the Tories should have their feet held to the fire; these plants have… Read more »
What England wants England gets … What Wales needs never comes.
For British read English.
As for Welsh Labour, Welsh Conservatives and Welsh Lib-Dems … if they were companies they would be taken to court under the trades description act.
Westminster never worked
Devolution can’t work
ONLY independence can solve the problem of Englands political neglect !!!
And a scary number of people still dont get this.
Absolutely totally true , yes Welsh Labour government and central Labour Government betrayed Port Talbot. The Conservative government had made a deal with the owners before the election but we watched on TV Jo Stevens , Vaughan Gething , Stephen Kinnock , telling us Labour would cancel that deal/agreement make by the Conservatives and keep the steel works running and maintain the furnaces as they were. They then told they would pay whatever the cost to keep it running. Even the BBC Wales reporter Nick Sevini was completely shocked on screen live that they would strike a brand new deal… Read more »
Labour have led a “contemptuous betrayal” of all in Wales.
They’ve betrayed us by backing the theft by the Royal family.
They’ve betrayed us on all funding aspects for Wales.
They’ve betrayed our I’ll, disabled and dying.
It’s the 21st century, and some people still believe a separate country running our own is a good idea.