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.”

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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”.

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'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.