UK Government urged to 'pull out all the stops' to 'reverse' Tata steel job cuts in Port Talbot
The Welsh Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething, spoke at a press conference responding to the Tata Steel announcement.
The Welsh Economy Minister has urged the Prime Minister to “pull out all the stops” and “reverse” the thousands of steel job cuts planned in Wales.
Tata Steel announced that 2,800 positions will be lost at Port Talbot as it transitions to a new, greener form of steel production, aided by £500m from the UK Government.
The UK Government has said that that investment has protected many more thousands of jobs and that the alternative was the complete closure of Tata operations in Wales.
Last week Rishi Sunak said: “The company is investing more money in order to safeguard thousands of jobs, and that’s something that the UK Government has done.”
At the same time, the UK Government’s Welsh Secretary, David TC Davies, said: “The actions of the UK Government have saved 5,000 jobs, which is 5,000 more than would have been saved if it had been left to the Labour party.”
The Labour Party at a UK level and the Labour Welsh Government take a different view and claim that the UK Government should have pushed for an alternative plan which would see a longer transition to the new way of working.
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Today (Tuesday, 23 January), Economy Minister Vaughan Gething insisted that “the final whistle has not gone” and that there the numbers of job losses could be stemmed.
He told a press conference: “The prime Minister could realise the scale of the anger, the upset and hurt that the UK Government and Tata plan provides.
“He could instead pull out the stops in the coming hours and days to reverse the worst of these proposed cuts.”
Mr Gething denied Welsh ministers were giving Tata workers false hope, saying “the real danger is that there is a narrative that is created and simply accepted that nothing can be done.
"The formal consultation has yet to start.”
There’s also been debate in the House of Commons over what more if anything can be done to reduce the number of job losses.
Before the debate began Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader called for the UK Government to step in an even bigger way.
She told MPs: “Steel is a strategically important industry for the entire UK. It is vital for supporting the green transition, from energy generation to electric cars.
“For decades successive Westminster governments have allowed the steel industry to decay with the short-term vision of lemmings and the sense of social justice of hyenas.
“Plaid Cymru has called for action to ensure that ownership of the Welsh steel industry should be returned to Welsh public control. This would involve nationalisation, then recapitalisation through green bonds, with a view to mutualise and create a Welsh Steel Co-operative.
“We could save the banks in 2008, why can’t we do the same for steel now?”
That was echoed by Mark Drakeford during First Minister’s Questions in the Senedd.
He said: “This government is not signed up to the company's plan.
“We believe that there is a credible alternative that would sustain jobs at Port Talbot, and would sustain indigenous steelmaking in the United Kingdom.”
The Conservative Opposition Leader, Andrew RT Davies, reiterated the support that his party’s UK Government had offered.
He said: “The UK government has put half a billion pounds on the table along with the company's £750m to retain steelmaking capacity at Port Talbot, thus protecting 17,000 jobs in total in the wider economy.”
But he diverged from his party’s official line that there is no alternative to the current plan.
“I disagree with that proposal. From the conversations I've had with Tata. I was always under the impression that at least one of those blast furnaces would continue in operation.
“And I still maintain that that is a feasible objective for the transition to arc furnaces."That’s led to private anger from Conservatives in the UK Government for opening up an unnecessary dividing line.
A UK Government source said that “TATA have been clear that both of its blast furnaces - one is at the end of life and the other is financially unviable - are to be closed.
“Everyone wants to preserve as many jobs as possible. That’s why the UK Government has provided half a billion pounds in funding to maintain steel production in South Wales.
“TATA have been unequivocal from the start that it’s this deal or the closure of the entire Port Talbot site.”
That’s led to private anger from Conservatives in the UK Government for opening up an unnecessary dividing line.
A UK Government source said that “TATA has been clear that both of its blast furnaces - one is at the end of life and the other is financially unviable - are to be closed.
“Everyone wants to preserve as many jobs as possible. That’s why the UK Government has provided half a billion pounds in funding to maintain steel production in South Wales.
“TATA has been unequivocal from the start that it’s this deal or the closure of the entire Port Talbot site.”
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