Welsh Secretary caught in backlash over 'insulting' Port Talbot video

Emily Price

Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens has been accused of insulting TATA steelworkers after promoting mental health support for those affected by job losses at the plant the day after an emergency law was passed to protect steel jobs in Scunthorpe.

On Sunday (April 13), Ms Stevens appeared in a video posted online by the UK Government's Wales Office which featured sweeping shots of the UK's largest steelworks in Port Talbot.

Indian-owned TATA shut down its last blast furnace at the site in September 2024 to transition to greener steelmaking involving an electric arc furnace.

The change will see thousands of steelworkers at the plant being made redundant.

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'Difficult'

In the video clip, the Welsh Secretary said she knew it had been "an incredibly difficult time for the steelworkers, their families and the wider community in Port Talbot."

She said: "I said we would back them in whatever ways were needed. I’m pleased to announce this new funding to protect and support mental health and well-being.

"This investment of over £3m will mean more counsellors available to support steelworkers. Help for schools for children of affected families and funding for local groups.

"Good mental health is crucial to getting into and staying in work, providing a sense of purpose and supporting growth in the local economy - which benefits the whole community."

The UK Government is committing more than £3 million to boost mental health provision in the #PortTalbot area.

Watch Welsh Secretary @JoStevensLabour on how this funding will help steelworkers affected by the steel transition stay well, find and keep good employment. pic.twitter.com/h75nqJ42O3

— Wales Office (@WalesOffice) April 13, 2025

The Wales Office video has been viewed over 270,000 times with commentators branding it "tone deaf" and raising questions about why the UK Government didn't fight for public ownership of the Port Talbot steelworks.

Although the clip was posted to X at the weekend, a spokesperson for Ms Stevens said the mental health funding had been confirmed at the last TATA transition board meeting several weeks ago.

In a post to X, formerly Twitter, Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said Ms Steven’s "had no idea".

He said: "Can’t quite get my head around how insulting this is from the Labour UK Government.

"'We’ve shafted you but we’ll put some money into helping you deal with the fact that we’ve shafted you.'

"The Labour Welsh Secretary knows 'how difficult' this is for Port Talbot? She has no idea."

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Control

The video came after MPs rushed emergency legislation through the UK Parliament on Saturday (12 April) to take control of the beleaguered British Steel plant in Scunthorpe.

It will allow ministers to stop its Chinese owners Jingye from closing its two blast furnaces.

The legislation stops short of full nationalisation of British Steel, and ministers say they remain hopeful that they can secure private investment to save the plant.

But there is currently no private company willing to invest in the firm and UK ministers have acknowledged that public ownership remained the "likely option".

Labour has argued that the situation in Port Talbot was different to the one in Scunthorpe - with TATA's choice to close its blast furnaces made in January 2024 under the previous Conservative government.

Ms Stevens says her party "stepped up" by securing a "better deal" with TATA that protected "the immediate future of steel making".

'Sour'

Plaid Cymru says the last blast furnace in Port Talbot didn't shut down until several months after Labour won the General Election and that there was still time to bring it under public ownership.

Plaid's leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth said: "The Secretary of State’s re-announcement of funding for mental health support is an insult to the community.

"Yes, that support is vital, but the timing - and the impression that this somehow does right for the injustice, leaves a very sour taste.

"This is a community angry at having been betrayed, but 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 government’s £2.5bn steel fund, and puts together a strategy for the future."