The UK Government: where dishonesty and cowardice meet

Martin Shipton

Politicians who raise false hopes in communities, especially in the run-up to an election, are reprehensible and not to be trusted.

The outcome this week of the negotiations with Tata Steel over the company’s plan for its Port Talbot plant illustrates, I’m afraid, such dishonest behaviour well.

In cash terms, the deal accepted by the UK Government, under which two blast furnaces are shut, 2,500 jobs are lost and the company will be given £500m towards the cost of building an electric arc furnace on the site, is identical to that accepted by the previous Conservative government.

Yet senior Labour figures pulled no punches at the time in attacking the Tories.

On St David’s Day this year, when she was the Shadow Welsh Secretary, Jo Stevens said: “Steelmaking is the lifeblood of communities across Wales, the backbone of local economies and the foundation of our manufacturing capability. On St David’s Day in particular, we reflect on Wales’s proud industrial roots. Wales is brimming with potential and I am ambitious for a future fuelled by the innovation and talent I’ve seen up and down our country.

“Yet short-sighted Tory ministers look set to squander it. The deep cuts to jobs at TATA are a kick in the teeth. But ministers have compounded the risk to livelihoods, effectively forking out £500m in taxpayers’ money to make up to 3,000 people redundant and forfeit our ability to make virgin steel.

“The Business Secretary [Kemi Badenoch], not known for diplomacy, said Wales should consider this a win. The Welsh Secretary has said it’s mission accomplished on saving Welsh steelmaking.

“Their attitude shows a casual indifference to thousands of people across south Wales whose livelihoods are at stake, a fundamental misunderstanding of the regional economy, and total disregard for the need to preserve the UK’s sovereign steelmaking capability. The truth is their approach is totally self-defeating. However Tory ministers try to spin it, the loss of sovereign steelmaking is a fundamental threat to our economy and security.”

Not enough

In January, when he was standing for the leadership of Welsh Labour, Vaughan Gething, then the Economy Minister, said the UK Government’s £500m package to help Tata transition to produce more environmentally-friendly steel was not enough to save thousands of jobs.

“I think this comes down to whether the UK Government is prepared to contribute to a future of the UK steel sector,” he argued.

“Everyone knows that the economic and fiscal firepower to put into a genuine deal with a future of steel, the best deal, requires a UK Government of any type, of any colour, to invest in the future.

Mr Gething told a press conference the shedding of about 2,500 jobs was “genuinely avoidable” if the UK Government would “engage” with the Welsh Government.

Directly criticising the Tory UK government, he said: “All of us should be committed to the best deal for steel, not the cheapest deal.”

He added: “The transition that needs to take place is one that the current UK Government is not prepared to invest in to maintain that further steelmaking capacity.

“It comes down to a choice. Do you think hundreds of millions of pounds of investment is worth it to avoid thousands of job losses?

“Do you think it’s worth doing that not just to protect those jobs for a period of years into the future, but to invest into your transition to lower carbon steel? I think that is a smart bet on our future.”

Charade

Yet Tata had made it abundantly clear time and time again that the only deal acceptable to it was the one that had already been accepted by what is now the former Tory UK government. Labour politicians were well aware of that, but chose to keep the charade going. Eventually, as was inevitable, the emptiness of their supposedly tough talk was exposed when they accepted the terms of the original deal, which is now being implemented.

By pretending that a better deal could be achieved, Ms Stevens and Mr Gething were undoubtedly offering false hope to the steelworkers of Port Talbot.

In what is maybe a slightly less obvious way, Keir Starmer has been overegging his ability to gain closer economic ties for the UK with the EU without rejoining the single market or the customs union.

The European Movement UK summed up the situation well: “Just over two months into his new job, the Prime Minister’s much-hailed ‘relationship reset’ with Europe seems to be losing its sheen in Brussels. Despite many warm words and countless cheerful-looking meetings with EU leaders, it seems that the Prime Minister’s actions are indeed speaking far louder than his words.

“It was clear from the outset that an extremely close relationship with the EU, involving the likes of free movement, the single market and a customs union, were out of the question. Labour, despite bemoaning the damage of Brexit, are understandably nervous about appearing to contravene the referendum result. But the UK government seems to be adding new red lines at quite a pace, causing no small amount of alarm in Brussels.

“The refusal from the Labour government to take a publicly positive position towards rejoining [the student exchange scheme] Erasmus+ and entering a youth mobility scheme, both suggested by the EU in the last couple of months, has rather doused the fire of goodwill in Brussels. Insiders are beginning to wonder if the ‘reset’ rhetoric is just talk, with no intention of action.

“Even more concerningly for the EU, the Prime Minister’s tour of European capitals, which first appeared to simply be a relationship building exercise, is now being seen as an attempt by the UK to cut deals with individual EU member states, rather than the bloc itself. This will not be taken lightly by the EU powers, with one source describing the idea that Brussels can be circumvented as ‘completely inaccurate and legally wrong’.”

Spooked

The UK Labour government’s overriding theme is the need for economic growth. Having photo-ops with the President of France and the Chancellor of Germany may give the impression that some significant breakthrough is on the cards, but it’s all illusory. Labour seems spooked by Reform UK, and as a result is unwilling to expose how damaging Brexit has been to the economy. This is where cowardice and dishonesty meet.

Labour should be arguing the case for a return to the single market and the customs union, and in the process spiking the guns of Nigel Farage, who is currently being let off extremely lightly.

With Farage arguably the leading architect of Brexit, Starmer should be holding him to account for the obvious failure of the core policy he promoted. Instead, the subject is ignored and Farage is given carte blanche to present himself as the leader of a populist insurgency that could have a corrosive impact on Welsh politics at the Senedd election in 2026 and at the next general election three years later. Labour’s approach could prove to be a catastrophically stupid strategy.

One Labour MS I spoke to this week was more optimistic, convinced that Kamala Harris will defeat Donald Trump in November and that as a result, populism across the world will be in retreat.

It’s a nice thought, but I have serious fears that even if Harris wins, populism is here to stay until progressive governments have the courage to do what is necessary to deliver higher living standards for ordinary people.