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Nation•Cymru A news service by the people of Wales, for the people of Wales.

Opinion

Without the Conservatives there wouldn’t be a steel plant in Port Talbot any more - it’s as simple as that

By Mark Mansfield
Baroness Olivia Bloomfield visiting Tata Steel's plant in Port Talbot

Baroness Olivia Bloomfield

The steel industry has been pivotal to Wales, both historically and in the modern era, serving as a backbone of the nation’s economic and social landscape.

Historically, the development of major steelworks, like Port Talbot, transformed local communities by providing significant employment and spurring urban growth. During the post-war boom, the steel sector was the largest single employer in Wales, offering well-paid jobs and supporting welfare, leisure, and housing initiatives that reshaped towns and cities.

This industrial growth attracted people from across South Wales and contributed to population surges, cementing steel as a symbol of prosperity and national pride.

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Cornerstone

In the modern context the steel industry remains a cornerstone of Welsh manufacturing, although its role has evolved amid global competition and environmental challenges. Wales currently produces over half of the UK’s steel output and steel-related exports account for billions in value.

Major employers like Tata Steel continue to provide thousands of jobs and inject millions of pounds into local economies, with wages far above the national average. Beyond its economic significance, the sector faces growing pressure to adapt to sustainability demands, notably as work shifts toward greener production methods – a transformation critical for both regional livelihoods and the UK’s climate ambitions.

Despite employment declines and structural change, the steel industry’s economic impact and deep historic ties make it irreplaceable in Wales’ ongoing story.

This is something the Conservative Party understood and I am proud to serve as the Shadow Parliamentary-Under Secretary of State for Wales for a Party that secured the future of Port Talbot in the face of Tata Steel’s daily losses of £1.5 million.

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Electric arc furnace

It was the Conservative Party that pledged £500 million to build an electric arc furnace in order to produce steel of equal quality but with a process more environmentally acceptable. We also provided an additional £90 million to re-train those who lose their jobs.

For me this is personal. My late father came to Wales as a young man to work for GKN and ran Cardiff steelworks. More often found on the shop floor than the board room he would be stunned by the sheer ignorance of Nigel Farage claiming he would and could re-open the two blast furnaces which have been decommissioned.

Personally, I was shocked at the time we mooted the deal by the negative comments from the current Secretary of State for Wales, Jo Stevens, as well as by Plaid Cymru; this was a deal that should have been welcomed wholeheartedly by everyone with Wales’ interests at heart, from whatever political persuasion.

I was privileged to be given a tour of the site along with James Evans MS last week where we held very productive meetings. We toured the area which is being prepared for the installation of the electric arc furnace, still on schedule for operation in 2027. The sense of optimism and renewed pride in Port Talbot was palpable.

As Conservatives we must not shy away from the tremendous work we carried out in Wales over our 14 years in office: Delivering this and the Freeports for Anglesey and South West Wales. We would have delivered more had the Lib Dems not held the energy brief for the first Six years under Ed Davey.

Modular reactor

I should like to see the energy input for the electric arc being derived from a dedicated advanced modular reactor on site; In the medium term , offshore floating wind from the Celtic Sea will provide energy and jobs.

It is a proud Conservative legacy that we secured the future of steelmaking in Port Talbot along with more than 10,000 jobs at the plant and in the wider supply chain.

Without us there wouldn’t be a steel plant in Port Talbot any more - it’s as simple as that.

Baroness Olivia Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist is the Shadow Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales in the House of Lords

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37 comments

Jeff

Who flogged off our national asset in the first place.

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Basil

Ssh. You'll make Thatcher's acolytes cry.

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Bram

According to made-up sources, the Cons were considering privatising Trident and had received a lot of interest from mysterious overseas companies offering great terms to run it. The massive savings would've helped grow the economy by letting party donors keep more of their cash to put in offshore bank accounts.

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smae

Technically there isn't a steel plant in port talbot at all. The furnaces were turned off and the electric arc furnaces will not be creating virgin steel. If anything the UK should have built a separate plant or two for recycling steel and nationalized port talbot as it is a vital national security interest. We only have one virgin steel plant left, which makes the UK incredibly vulnerable.

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JKLWMS Thomas

Who wants an electric arc furnace prodicung lower grade steel when you can get to keep a real (blast furnace) producing real steel- but only if you are based in England.

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Peter J

The last blast furnace will become an EAF once the terms are agreed with Jingye. Jingye are digging in wanting more money as gvmt has only offered 300m (allegedly ) which is less than Tata received, but truth is port Talbot is a more important plant. What is for sure, there won't be a blast furnace up there in a decades time.

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Basil

Luckily Germany won the peace and became a far more successful economy so we can still buy virgin steel from them, at a third country premium of course.

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Philip Owen

Gwlad would go beyond a modular reactor. The site needs a High Temperature reactor (HTTR) to produce "red" hydrogen to make virgin steel from ore again. Japan has a working HTTR since 2010 and is building a large scale one. France is building too. The EU including TATA in the Netherlands is making strides in using hydrogen for virgin steel production. Without Brexit, Port Talbot too would have had access to hydrogen technlogy now. The Tories gave us a Crash Out Brexit which failed to recognize the narrowness of the referendum result and stranded Port Talbot steel and everything else in Wales outside the EEA. Wales cannot rely on foreigh governments in London. Gwald wants Welsh independence based on a market economy. HTTR reactors can also bring back cement, lost at Aberthaw and other major process industries that depended on coal and oil.

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Peter J

Interesting point. But... -the HTTR in Japan is experimental/research facility. There is no commercial reactor. So no one uses HTTR to produce H2, or even nuclear to produce H2 -most H2 for steel reactors will be using 'green hydrogen' to comply with the Carbon Border mechanisms -The EAF site will be itself be powered mostly from Hinckley point -are there any examples of cement factories using HTTR energy? -with respect, I don't know how brexit limited access to H2 technology. It's 10 years ago now, time to move on -Port Talbot needed a decision straightaway, it couldn't wait for new technologies to come along. I suspect the two options were EAF or close down the site

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Anonymous

Agreed, "High Temperature reactor (HTTR) to produce “red” hydrogen to make virgin steel from ore again" is the future - greener than arc furnaces. Also, the price of electricity in the UK threatens the commercial viability of this so called 'green' furnace.

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John Pockett

Who on earth is this woman. I follow Welsh politics quite keenly, but I've never heard of her. Perhaps Hinton Waldrist is a village in Wales that I've not heard of?

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Peter J

I agree with the assessment - no Port Talbot without Tory intervention, so credit where it's due. Though I would argue, any sensible government would have done the same. The biggest challenge in europe is going to be access to high quality scrap metal. UK Steel recently called for restrictions to preserve domestic scrap for future use in EAFs! By 2030 or so, europe is expected to reverse it's position and become a net importer of scrap metal from the rest of the world to meet the demand.

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Basil

Giving credit to the Cons for doing less than the minimum to support national security is like thanking a firebug for turning up with half a bucket of water to put out the fire they started. Hint: the EU isn't shutting their virgin steel industry.

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Peter J

Ok, fine. On the last point,all companies in the EU will have to change but the transition can be slower because they don't have to worry about the carbon border tax quite so severely. But only a couple of years, hence all companies have to transition to EAF and/or H2. H2 will still produce virgin steel. It's much more costly and the timeline to do this wouldn't suit Tata UK

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andy w

The last Conservative Government used the relationship that Port Talbot had developed with Tata to secure a Tata battery factory in England https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/work-underway-tatas-uk-ev-battery-factory-ahead-2027-opening If that factory had been built in Port Talbot the Tata steelworkers would have been redeployed and no / limited overall job losses. Instead Port Talbots economy will decline, the UK government has a fund to redeploy the ex-steelworkers, universal credit payments will increase. The cost is enormous. There is no legacy from the Conservative Party to Port Talbot.

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Peter J

Maybe unpopular view, but the three main reasons for the battery plant going to Somerset were; 1. Easy access to Hinckley nuclear 2. Just in time delivery requirements from JLR meant the plant had to be close to the main plant. (Same reason Toyota has a plant in Flintshire) 3. M4 congestion (see above) Ultimately it would have been tata's decision. Not sure the Tories could have done much about it

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Basil

How is Hinckley relevent? And M4 congestion isn't relevant to freight movements which can happen outside peak hours, plus there's rail freight which is how steel moves around the UK.

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In reply to Basil

Peter J

Batteries need to be manufactured with low carbon energy as per export regulations. I trust the company who are experts in JIT delivery to decide their logistics

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In reply to Peter J

Basil

There's a national grid. There's no need to directly "tap in" to an individual energy source. And JIT doesn't mean quick. It just means arriving when it's needed. But we ripped up JIT with Brexit which is why there's shiny new jobless warehouses (expensively stockpiling stuff that didn't need storing before, adding to the prices we all pay) popping up in places like Avonmouth being mistaken for new economic activity.

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In reply to Basil

Peter J

Fine, if you're an expert electrical engineer and think you can hook up a gigawatt plant wherever you want, then you raise a very valid point, thanks. My fellowship of the IET says that's not the case, but I trust you your opinion. As for your point on logistics, I'm sure you're right and the 100s of people in the logistics department at JLR are wrong.

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In reply to Peter J

Basil

Somerset was chosen over Wales by the Cons for political reasons. Retrofitting excuses to justify this shameless pork barrelling is just gaslighting.

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In reply to Basil

Peter J

the site was chosen by JLR, not the government. No evidence of pork barrelling. If the government wanted to pork barrel, it would have gone to the north east, but JLR made the decision

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In reply to Peter J

Basil

The North East was Johnson's baby and that flirtation ended with him. Somerset has half a dozen traditionally safe Conservative seats that were all lost to the Dems. A sweetener here is an investment for 2029 that will pay dividends. It's completely naive to suggest these conversations weren't happening in the same room when the Cons realised they couldn't avoid spending some money in Wales and wanted to know what else Tata could offer them in return.

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In reply to Basil

Peter J

NURSE! Where's my tin hat?

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In reply to Peter J

Basil

Once might be a coincidence but this has happened before. Headline in early 2020: "Battery manufacturer Britishvolt reveals Wales is its preferred location for a massive factory" That was before Johnson got involved and lured them to Blyth for political reasons using the offer of taxpayer cash that should've been available to them in Wales. Of course it blew up in Johnson's face like his whole levelling up sham but that's not the point.

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andy w

The Torys a part- funded Tata to build the factory, so they led the decision making process. Airbus planes are manufactured across Europe, not just in one location. Rolls-Royce plc engines utilise global suppliers. A fair government would try to replace jobs with new jobs and not keep moving roles to England.

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In reply to andy w

Peter J

JLR makes 1200 cars per day. It’s a totally different logistic situation than RR or airbus. Apples and pears. The tories supported the plant but JLR had significant leverage as the they were being offered more money to locate this factory abroad, if you remember.

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Tucker

There are two powerstaions located just outside Port Talbot steelworks. A wood fired one not that far away as well as the on site ones that were powered by coke gas produced in the steel making process. So I doubt the fact Hinkely is located close by was part of the reasons for choosing Somerset.

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In reply to Tucker

Peter J

You have to use low carbon energy sources - nuclear or renewables to make batteries. Cars will be subjected to higher tariffs if you don't use these energy sources (see CBAM)

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Basil

"We would have delivered more had the Lib Dems not held the energy brief for the first Six years under Ed Davey" The coalition lasted five years. "I should like to see the energy input for the electric arc being derived from a dedicated advanced modular reactor on site" There's little point co-locating a power source when there's a national grid but clean green energy could've come from a tidal lagoon on site, had your party not opposed it because it didn't benefit London.

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Thomas

The tidal lagoon would have contributed about 27% of the power requirement for the Port Talbot EAF project. And cost £1.3 billion pounds (probably significantly more judging from the cost escalation of any major civil engineering project in the UK). I am glad the government chose not to waste such a huge sum on producing a dribble of electricity.

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Basil

Closer to 60% by my calculations. But they could've made it bigger. Imagine if the whole of Swansea Bay was a lagoon. Just think of the flood prevention benefits.

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Charles Coombes

Who sold British Steel to the highest bidder? Tory Government. And the other crown jewels Railways et al. Not forgetting social housing!

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Basil

Taking the engine out of the car is how you make it faster. According to Thatcherism.

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Bethan

Baroness Baroness. You have got to learn how to communicate with the common people. Stating something is 'as simple as that' is not a valid argument, but condescension noted. Opinion rejected.

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Paul ap Gareth

Without the Conservatives flogging of national industries, the future of steelworks in Port Talbot would not have required emergency intervention.

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Llawgoch

How typically disconnected and short sighted of the Tory party. I dare these two to go into the town and say those same words: ‘the optimism and renewed pride in PT is palpable.’ I was talking with a young person from PT last night and this is not what he was saying for sure. Nor was there any ounce of gratitude for the Tory party. The old delusion of Farage and his Tory pals being business/corporate minded is infuriating and frustrating. ‘Puppets of large foreign corporation’ may be. But they have no idea.

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Maybe unpopular view, but the three main reasons for the battery plant going to Somerset were; 1. Easy access to Hinckley nuclear 2. Just in time delivery requirements from JLR meant the plant had to be close to the main plant. (Same...

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