Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill

David Chadwick Excerpts

2nd reading
Saturday 12th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[David Chadwick (Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe) (LD)]

Last year, the Government said they would introduce a new steel strategy that would create more well-paid jobs in the places where they are most needed. Following last year’s closures of the blast furnaces at Port Talbot, many of my constituents have lost their jobs or seen their incomes fall. That includes the thousands of workers who were laid off at the plant itself, but also those further down the supply chain, including haulage drivers and payroll clerks providing services to the 2,000 local businesses that have been impacted by that closure.

The closure of Port Talbot’s blast furnaces started an economic contraction in south Wales that is still under way. Many highly skilled workers, particularly welders, are leaving south Wales in search of opportunities elsewhere. It is rubbing salt in the wounds for the people of Port Talbot to hear the Government now acknowledge the importance of primary steel production as a strategic national asset. Where was this urgency when Welsh steel communities were crying out for support?

Last year, when Tata Steel announced over 2,800 job losses at Port Talbot—the largest steelworks in the country, a key strategic asset, and the manufacturing heart of south Wales—there was no recall of Parliament, no Saturday sitting, no emergency legislation and no rapid mobilisation of the Government to save the day, despite every warning sign being there. The unions raised the alarm and industry experts warned of the economic shock, but the warnings were ignored. Now, faced with similar risks in England, the Government suddenly rediscover their ability to act swiftly.

The simple fact is that the Government did not recall Parliament for Port Talbot, and they did not recall Parliament for Wales. If today’s decision is in the national interest, why did the Government not offer similar protections to Port Talbot, which had more capacity and greater output? Have the Government been fenced in by closing the blast furnaces at Port Talbot too early? How much of the steel supply chain will the Government now commit to protecting?

Employment at Port Talbot fell from over 18,000 employees at its height over the past few decades to around 4,000 before last year’s closure decision, and now there are just 2,000 steelworkers employed there. Those jobs are sorely missed. Welsh steel is all around us, and Port Talbot once produced the steel used in everyday products such as Heinz baked beans tins. It is absolutely right that we are now acknowledging the importance of domestically produced steel. Communities that once powered the UK’s growth, particularly the Swansea valley, the Neath valley, Port Talbot and Maesteg, now face an economic reckoning with far too little urgency from this Government in return.

This is personal for many of us from south Wales. My grandfather worked at the blast furnaces at the Port Talbot steelworks, and it gave him the opportunity, as it did many others, to set up his own business—in his case, a waste management company. That is what is really at risk now, and that is what is really withering away in south Wales. It is not just the jobs on the steelworks floor, but the entire network of small businesses, tradespeople and suppliers that rely on the steel industry’s presence in our communities. We know that for every steelworker made redundant, up to three or four local jobs are at risk of disappearing. The message from Westminster has been clear: when crisis hits in Wales, it is tolerated; when it hits elsewhere, it becomes a national emergency.

We cannot go on like this. Steel is strategic, it is critical to our national resilience, and it matters just as much in south Wales as anywhere else. This Government’s failure to act swiftly in Wales, to consult transparently with workers and to invest in a serious and just transition has undermined confidence and left people in Port Talbot, Llanwern, Shotton and many others across Wales feeling abandoned.

Some 2,800 jobs were lost at the blast furnaces alone, and many of those workers say they have simply been left behind. We have heard the Prime Minister say over the past few days that he wants to take control of steel. Why did he not say that when Welsh jobs were on the line? Why was Port Talbot not worth fighting for in the same way?

We need a proper UK-wide industrial strategy—one that recognises the vital role of Welsh steel in our national economy and, most importantly, one that treats workers in every part of the UK with the same respect, urgency and seriousness. The steelworking communities of Wales have not forgotten the silence that met their cries for help, and they will not accept a future in which their communities are left behind.