UK Government accused of double standards in plan to save British Steel

Welsh politicians have accused the UK Government of double standards over plans to protect steel in England.

Plaid Cymru and Liberal Democrat MPs criticised the Government’s plans to save jobs in Scunthorpe, suggesting it had failed to do the same for Port Talbot.

Liz Saville Roberts, Plaid’s Westminster leader, said: “Scunthorpe gets security, Port Talbot gets a pittance.”

Their comments came as MPs were recalled to Parliament for an extraordinary Saturday session to debate an emergency law to save British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant.

UK ministers insisted the two steel works are in different situations, and the Port Talbot is in a better position thanks to the Labour government.

Traditional steel production in Wales came to an end in September, with the loss of some 2,800 jobs.

The Port Talbot site is transitioning to greener steel production with a new electric arc furnace, which requires fewer workers to run, expected to be in place from 2027.

The closure of the blast furnaces was controversial in Wales, with Plaid politicians calling for nationalisation of the steel works.

Speaking during Saturday’s debate, Ms Saville Roberts said Eluned Morgan, the Labour First Minister of Wales, had dismissed her party’s calls for nationalisation of Welsh steel as “pipe dreams”.

“This Government did not intervene in Wales,” she said.

“Under his government, Scunthorpe gets security, Port Talbot gets a pittance.

“Plaid Cymru believes Port Talbot could and should have received equal treatment alongside Scunthorpe.

“The measures we are debating today would have been able to be used to save the blast furnaces at Tata Steel in Wales.

“People in Wales will not forget today, today is a day of bitter, bitter disappointment for Port Talbot.”

When crisis hits in Wales, it's tolerated. When it hits elsewhere, it becomes a national emergency.

The Liberal Democrat Wales spokesman David Chadwick said the closure of the Welsh blast furnaces had started an economic contraction in South Wales that affected his constituency.

He said: “It’s rubbing salt in the wounds for the people of Port Talbot to now hear the government 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, when Tata Steel announced over 2800 job losses in Port Talbot last year, the largest steel works in the country, a key strategic asset, the manufacturing heart of South Wales.”

The MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe, whose grandfather worked in the blast furnaces, added: “The simple fact is this, the government did not recall parliament for Port Talbot. It did not recall parliament for Wales.

“When crisis hits in Wales, it’s tolerated.

“When it hits elsewhere, it becomes a national emergency.”

In a post on X, Tom Giffard, the Conservative MS for South West Wales, said: “Steel workers in Port Talbot were promised a Labour Government would change everything for the steel industry.

“They then sold them down the river by changing nothing, and only taking action when jobs elsewhere were under threat. Labour simply doesn’t care about South Wales.”

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told the Commons the Port Talbot deal was negotiated by the previous Conservative government.

“We were not able to reopen the deal, but we did negotiate a better deal,” he said.

“And just to be clear, as a result of that, Port Talbot is in a stronger position than British Steel because it has that long-term future in place.”

Speaking on BBC Breakfast ahead of the debate, the industry minister, Sarah Jones, said: “When we came into Government, there was a deal on the table with Tata Steel in Port Talbot.

“We negotiated in 10 weeks a much better deal, but there was a private company willing to invest, who are now investing.

“We have maintained 5,000 jobs on the site and there will be a future for that site with an electric arc furnace.

“There is no such deal on the table at the moment (for Scunthorpe), that’s what is different.

“The other difference is that these are the last blast furnaces making primary steel that we have in this country, and also what is different of course is that the world is changing.

“As we have seen with the Prime Minister’s support for our defence industry in recent times, we need to ensure as a country we have sovereign capability to make steel, and that is what we are securing today.”