International Women’s Day

Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist Excerpts

Friday 6th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

My Lords, it is a great honour to open this debate on International Women’s Day on behalf of His Majesty’s loyal Opposition. It is an opportunity both to celebrate the countless contributions of women and to reflect on the work that still lies ahead, here at home, obviously in Wales, and across the world. We will no doubt hear stories from across the House of women who have shaped us in our own lives and who contribute every day to our society. With the indulgence of the House, I shall speak too about some Welsh women who have shaped our history.

In particular, I pay tribute to my noble friends Lady Owen of Alderley Edge and Lady Bertin for their tireless work on the Crime and Policing Bill to strengthen protections for women, particularly in the online space. Some of the material we have confronted has been deeply disturbing and should give us all pause for thought. These harms not only affect women and girls but shape attitudes and relationships more broadly, distorting how men and boys understand intimacy and respect. Women are not commodities nor targets for abuse; they are equal in worth and dignity, and they must be treated as such in every corner of our society. We are so grateful for the dedication of our female Peers across the House to this legislation.

The Conservative Party launched the international women and girls strategy, focusing on educating girls, empowering women and ending gender-based violence. Under that strategy, 80% of the FCDO’s bilateral aid programmes are required to focus on gender equality by 2030. We are proud of this record, and we are pleased that the current Government continue to commit to this target.

We must also take a long, hard look to what is happening in our own patch. We have come a long way in this country, and we owe so much to those who came before us. Coincidentally, it was on this day in 1806 that the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born. Her own success as a women inspired others, such as Emily Dickinson, and she used her talent to advocate not only for women but for other causes, such as the abolition of slavery in the United States.

I pay tribute to the female entrepreneurs of this country who continue to innovate, employ and lead, often while navigating different barriers from their male counterparts. Yet the economic picture gives us cause for concern. According to PwC’s 2026 Women in Work Index, which assesses women’s labour market outcomes, the UK has moved up one place but largely due to declines in other countries’ performance. Female unemployment has risen from 3.5% to 4.2%, while youth female unemployment has increased from 9.5% to 11.8%, and that trend should concern us all.

It is not good enough to turn a blind eye; we must do more to ensure that all women and girls in this country enjoy the same hard-fought freedoms, opportunities and standards that we across this House enjoy. What is needed is a new cultural and integration commission, which will provide an interim report later this year. We are doing the serious work to propose real solutions, not for political point-scoring but because it is the right thing to do.

No speech of mine would be complete without reference to Wales. Mae Cymru yn genedl o adroddwyr straeon—Wales is a nation of storytellers. I would like to reflect on the lives of some remarkable Welsh women whose courage, ingenuity and service have shaped not only Wales but our wider national story.

Let us start with the women of Fishguard, who repelled the last invasion of Britain in 1797—I bet not many noble Lords knew that. Dressed in traditional Welsh costume—dark dresses; tall, black, steeple-crowned hats; and red shawls—they formed a conspicuous line along the cliffs, which, in poor light and at a distance, the French mistook for ranks of red-coated soldiers. Facing what they believed to be overwhelming British reinforcements, the invaders lost heart and soon agreed to surrender.

If we go back to the 12th century, Gwenllian ferch Gruffudd, Princess of Deheubarth, is remembered for her leadership. In 1136, as her husband fought elsewhere, she led an army against the Norman invaders. She fell in battle, but her name endured as a rallying cry: “Dial Achos Gwenllian”, or, “Revenge for Gwenllian”. In an age when women’s voices were rarely recorded, her example of courage, sacrifice and resistance still speaks to us today about the cost of defending a nation’s identity.

Fast forward four centuries, and we find another woman whose influence ran not through arms but through kinship and land: Katheryn of Berain. A 16th century noblewoman in north Wales, Katheryn married extremely well four times, and through these alliances linked together many of the most powerful families of the region. She has sometimes been called “Mam Cymru”—“Mother of Wales”—because so many later Welsh gentry and political figures trace their descent through her. She reminds us that power is not only exercised in Parliaments or on battlefields but woven quietly through households, estates and communities, and that the women who manage those networks were architects of Welsh society in their own right.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Welsh women helped to propel the Industrial Revolution. Lucy Thomas, the mother of the Welsh steam coal trade, was a businesswoman from the heart of the coalfield. After her husband’s death, she took charge of the coal business, drove the development of markets for Welsh steam and helped to prove to sceptical buyers the superiority of Welsh coal, a resource that would power ships, railways and industry across the world.

From the grime of the coalfield to the horror of the battlefield hospital: in the Crimean War, the name Betsi Cadwaladr deserves to stand alongside that of Florence Nightingale. Born near Bala, Betsi volunteered as a nurse in the Crimea. She insisted on practical sanitation, decent food and humane care for ordinary soldiers. Her methods and determination saved lives and transformed conditions for Welsh and English soldiers alike. Today, the largest health board in Wales bears her name—a fitting tribute to this woman.

In the 20th century, Welsh women stepped decisively into political and public leadership. Margaret Haig Thomas, Lady Rhondda, was a suffragette, business leader and tireless campaigner for women’s rights. Imprisoned for militancy, she survived the sinking of the “Lusitania” and then rebuilt her life by taking a leading role in Welsh industry and journalism. She became one of the most prominent advocates for allowing women to sit in the House of Lords. Although that cause would not be realised in her lifetime, it is to pioneers like Lady Rhondda that today’s women Peers owe a profound debt.

Megan Lloyd George, the daughter of the then Prime Minister, built her own formidable political career. In 1929, she became Wales’s first female Member of Parliament, representing Anglesey. She was an eloquent advocate for Welsh culture, rural communities, social justice and a stronger recognition of Wales within the United Kingdom. In Megan Lloyd George, we see a template for principled Welsh parliamentarians, who are passionate about their nation yet deeply engaged in the wider challenges facing Britain and the world.

The Davies sisters, inheritance of great wealth, chose to invest in assembling one of the finest collections of impressionist art in Europe, most of which they gifted to the National Museum of Wales. Their philanthropy ensured that a miner’s child in Cardiff could stand before a Monet or a Renoir and know that world-class art belonged not just to London or Paris but to Wales.

Finally, I turn to a voice known across the globe, Dame Shirley Bassey. Born in Tiger Bay, the daughter of a Nigerian father and an English mother, she rose from a dockland community to become one of the most recognisable singers of the 20th century and a great philanthropist too.

These women span nine centuries. They came from palaces and farmsteads, ironworks and coalfields, chapels and tenements. Welsh history is not solely a tale of kings, princes and industrial magnates; it is enriched by these women too. They show that giving women access to power, whether economic, political, educational or cultural, enlarges the common good. When women could own and manage property, they built networks that held communities together. When they could train as doctors and nurses, they transformed public health. When they could vote, stand for Parliament and sit in this House, they broadened the range of voices shaping our laws.

The story of these Welsh women is, in truth, a story about the benefits of equality. In honouring them, we also affirm a simple truth: the story of Wales, like the story of Britain, is at its best when the talents of all its people—women as well as men—are recognised, encouraged and allowed to flourish. I commend their legacy to the House. I thank the Minister for bringing forward this debate and look forward to hearing the rest of noble Lords’ contributions.

Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act 2025

Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist Excerpts

Thursday 23rd October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

My Lords, I join other noble Lords in extending a warm welcome to the noble Baroness, Lady Lloyd of Effra, particularly given her Welsh heritage, and to the noble Lord, Lord Stockwood. It is never easy coming straight on to the Front Bench in the Lords, but I congratulate her on an excellent maiden speech and look forward to hearing more of her contributions.

The speech of the noble Baroness was welcome in its acknowledgement of modern methods of agriculture and green forms of energy generation, but it was rather at odds with the thrust of this Act, which pre-dates her introduction. The Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act 2025 has been presented to us as a lifeline—a bold intervention to protect jobs and revitalise Britain’s steel sector. Of course I applaud the efforts to preserve those 2,700 jobs and help keep those blast furnaces alight, but beneath its polished language lies a policy that risks entrenching inefficiency, draining public funds and stifling innovation.

I begin by acknowledging the immense contribution of our steel workers—particularly those in south Wales, who have endured enormous uncertainty. I particularly enjoyed the contribution of the noble Lord, Lord Murphy of Torfaen, who emphasised the contribution of steel to the communities of south Wales. My father ran the steelworks in Cardiff, so its importance has particular relevance to me. I visited Port Talbot’s site in the summer, but I got the impression there that the £80 million grant that we agreed for retraining is not yet being spent.

The recent decision by Tata Steel to extend its Christmas shutdown across the Port Talbot, Trostre and Llanwern sites, to which the noble Lord, Lord Murphy, has already alluded, is to be regretted. It will have devastating consequences. In some cases, steel-workers’ pay may be down to 65% of normal earnings, leaving families struggling at precisely the time of year when they need money for heating and for Christmas.

Let me be clear. Steel is vital to our economy: it builds our bridges, powers our industries and anchors communities across the nation. The question before us is not whether steel matters but whether this Act truly serves the future of British steel-making. Instead of investing in modernisation and sustainability, the Act prioritises short-term subsidies that prop up outdated plants and practices. Billions in taxpayers’ money is being redirected to cover corporate losses, without demanding real reform. Where are the binding conditions for green transition, digital efficiency or fair competition? None are adequately defined. We are, instead, pouring funds into a model that competes on volume rather than value.

I am proud of the previous Conservative Government’s commitment to low-carbon steel-making, with the plan for an electric arc furnace at Port Talbot, a £1.25 billion project part-funded by a £500 million Conservative Government grant, and I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, for acknowledging this. It is a crucial step towards low-carbon steel-making, with the potential to cut emissions by up to 90%, and to sustain 5,000 Welsh jobs and many more in the supply chain. One day, of course, I hope that the electricity on the site will be generated by nuclear power. Only the Conservative Government had the foresight to enable all this to happen. It is to be genuinely hoped that the current Labour Government will have similar foresight in their upcoming siting policy for new nuclear advanced technologies, which could be very relevant to Port Talbot.

Further, this legislation dangerously centralises decision-making in Whitehall. By granting extraordinary powers to the Secretary of State to override environmental and labour standards “in the national interest,” it sidelines local communities and weakens accountability. Steel towns such as Scunthorpe deserve consultation, not merely patronage.

This is not industrial strategy; it is industrial nostalgia. Britain cannot build its manufacturing strength by reviving a 20th-century model in a 21st-century economy. Without a clear path towards low-carbon steel production, research partnerships and fair international trade policy, the Act will leave us less competitive, not more secure. We should instead be channelling more funds into innovation: electrified blast furnaces, circular recycling systems and collaborative regional hubs that link industry with universities. That is how we build resilience, not through subsidies that delay the inevitable reckoning with global change.

Patriotism is not blind loyalty to failing structures; it is the courage to reform them. We must craft policy that supports both innovation and inclusion. The Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act 2025 does neither. Let us reject complacency, demand accountability and champion a truly modern industrial strategy. It is time to replace crisis management with the vision to move from reactive measures to a durable and just transition for British Steel that delivers not only for today’s jobs but for tomorrow’s generations.

Steel Industry

Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist Excerpts

2nd reading
Saturday 12th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

My Lords, I agree with the premise that the UK needs a flourishing domestic virgin steel industry to enable our industrial regeneration goals to be met, but I also express my deep personal regret that virgin steel is no longer made in Wales. My father started his career in Cardiff Steelworks at a time when Welsh steel, particularly that from Llanwern, was known to be the best in the world.

I also echo the deep concern aired throughout this House about the way this has been handled and the potential enormous cost that may fall on the taxpayer. I hope that the Government will agree to a sunset clause, at least to enable them to take stock at some point in the future. For now, my thoughts go out to the steel-workers and their families during an undoubtedly stressful and anxious period. Now may not be the time for political posturing or, indeed, engaging in a baseless blame game, but the facts speak clearly for themselves.

There are a number of issues that have directly caused the precarious situation we now face. For the last few years, it has become increasingly apparent that Chinese companies have developed an insatiable agenda to close down all their competition in the steel market. The hostile actions of the parent company, coupled with some reckless decisions taken by this Government, have engineered this predicament. The Government’s failure to tackle crippling energy prices, instead deciding to hike national insurance, have caused further, and, I might add, unnecessary pressures on our already struggling industry.

If noble Lords require any further evidence of this Government’s short-sightedness, they just need to remember that it was the current Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband, who decided last September to block the planning application from West Cumbria Mining Ltd to mine the coking coal necessary to make virgin steel. Now it must be imported, at greater financial and environmental cost. Bluntly, this made no sense and caused some of our plants to become even less competitive. The Labour Government’s poor decision-making has helped engineer the steel crisis. This begs the pertinent question: the Government must have seen the writing on the wall, so why did it take them so long to act?

When faced with a crisis, it is imperative that we act swiftly and decisively, just as the last Conservative Government did with Port Talbot steelworks. In 2023, the then Government were told by Tata Steel that the plant needed to undergo operational changes or face closure, meaning 10,000 jobs would be lost. The company was facing a £1.5 million loss every single day—a huge financial shortfall that no company, and indeed no Government, could sustain. Importantly, it was known that the two blast furnaces there were nearing the end of their useful lives. The Conservative Government acted quickly, leaving no stone unturned in trying to save as many jobs as possible. The agreed plan involved a £500 million government grant support package to build an electric arc furnace, plus millions more to help retrain those who would lose their jobs.

The electric arc furnace currently being built on the site will make us less dependent on imports, because it will recycle the UK’s huge tonnage of domestic scrap steel. Of course, it is my hope that, one day, Port Talbot will have a dedicated power supply provided by an on-site advanced modular nuclear reactor, such as those that data centres are helping to finance in order to secure their own energy demands. Nationalisation should be a last resort; it is always the taxpayer who foots the bill. I am confident that everyone in this House will agree with me that steel is of strategic national importance and that we cannot allow the Scunthorpe plant to fail.

Steel: Port Talbot

Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist Excerpts

Monday 15th April 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Johnson of Lainston (Con)]

I am grateful for that point. All of us in government are very sensitive to the people whose lives will be affected, which is why we are putting so much money into this process—£100 million in the transition board. I take this opportunity to thank Tata for its commitment to invest £1.25 billion in regenerating the area and renewing the British steel industry. I urge the unions to maintain their very strong record of good relationships, to not go on strike and to work with Tata, so that we can deliver what will be an incredible benefit for the area and the country.

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

My Lords, I agree with all previous speakers that it would be an utter tragedy for steel-making to disappear from Port Talbot. However, does my noble friend agree that the only way of preserving a great British steel industry, and a green steel industry at that, is for the workers to work closely with Tata Steel, and for us to further green it using the offshore floating wind projects and with the potential of advanced modular reactors on site in Port Talbot?

[Lord Johnson of Lainston (Con)]

I thank my noble friend for that point, and she is absolutely right. If we look back six months or a year, there was very little future for steel-making in this country, and now we have one; we have a truly advanced manufacturing plan for this entire industry. This is something we should celebrate. It is a true industrial policy backed by government money, in partnership with the private sector, and supported by the extraordinary and brilliant talent of the people at Port Talbot.