EXCLUSIVE:
Tories 'risk pushing steel industry over the edge with Port Talbot deal'
Tories 'risk pushing steel industry over the edge with Port Talbot deal'
The leader of the sector's biggest trade union has raised fears for its future following
the controversial agreement over the plant, which will lead to 3,000 job cuts
Plans to overhaul production at Port Talbot will trigger 3,000 job cuts
Deputy Political Editor
MIRROR
22 OCT 2023
Tory ministers risk pushing Britain’s steel industry “over the edge” as it stands “at the brink”, a union leader warned today.
Writing for the Mirror, Community steelworkers’ union general secretary Roy Rickhuss hit out at a £1.25billion deal struck between the Government and Tata, which owns the UK’s biggest steel plant at Port Talbot, South Wales. The agreement to help the firm switch from traditional coal-fired blast furnaces to electric arc systems will cost taxpayers £500million and trigger 3,000 job losses.
Welsh Secretary David TC Davies hosted the first meeting of the Tata Steel-Port Talbot Transition Board at the site on Thursday. It aims to “support the people, businesses and communities affected by the proposed transition to low-CO2 steelmaking”, as the town and surrounding communities brace for the devastating jobs blow.
Mr Davies said: “We know that there are challenges ahead but I’m clear that we have the right people around the table who will all be doing their absolute best to facilitate the transition to greener steel and the impact that has on the community.” But in his article, Mr Rickhuss writes: “However, you look at it, the deal Tory ministers have struck with Tata is a bad one - disastrous for steelworkers and damaging for our country. Moving Port Talbot to an electric-arc furnace model would result in the potential loss of thousands of jobs on site and at other steel plants across the country.”
Closing the blast furnaces will slash Tata’s carbon emissions and boost the Government’s fight to hit net-zero by 2050. But campaigners want a mix of power at the plant to help save jobs.
Labour unveiled a £3bn plan to revolutionise the steel industry at its conference two years ago, including moving to less polluting manufacturing. Since then, thousands of job cuts have been announced and economic growth has stalled.
Mr Rickhuss warns: “After 13 years of inaction and neglect, this Conservative Government have less than 12 months left in office. They should use their remaining time to back our steel industry and support a just transition for Britain’s steelworkers - or they will be remembered in history as the Government that pushed us over the edge when we stood at the brink. Ultimately, we need a robust industrial strategy with steel at its heart – something only Keir Starmer and Labour will deliver.”
Steelworker Gary Keogh, 59, who has worked at Port Talbot for 37 years, told the Mirror: “Electric arc is not a silver bullet. We don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket and get caught up in something that could make it too late for the industry, because once it’s gone it’s gone. We welcome investment, of course we do, but I do not welcome annihilation of the British steelworkers.”
Local MP Stephen Kinnock, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Steel, said: “The Tata Steel-UK Government decarbonisation deal is unacceptable because it focuses narrowly on the electric arc furnace model, whereas it should also be ensuring that we continue to produce virgin steel in Port Talbot through low carbon technologies such as direct reduced iron. The EAF-only strategy will lead to far more job losses than is necessary, so I fully support Community and the other steel unions as they seek to persuade Tata to think again.”
Shadow Business Minister Sarah Jones said Labour “has a plan for steel, we want to invest in steel”. She added: “We want to work with the industry and work with unions to work out how we get high-paid, good-skilled jobs and the steel of the future that we need for this country.” Vowing to “see how we can make the steel industry core to everything we are doing going forward”, she added: “The steel industry is so important for our country.”
The Mirror has been campaigning to Save Our Steel since 2015.
Community steelworkers’ union general secretary Roy Rickhuss writes for the Mirror
However you look at it, the deal Tory ministers have struck with Tata is a bad one - disastrous for steelworkers and damaging for our country.
Moving Port Talbot to an electric-arc furnace (EAF) model would result in the potential loss of thousands of jobs on site and at other steel plants across the country. It’s also hugely short-sighted - an EAF-only future would see the UK importing primary steel; our own industry would no longer be self-sufficient and carbon emissions would be offshored to heavy polluters overseas.
Ploughing ahead with EAF and removing blast furnaces – without considering other sustainable direct reduced iron and hydrogen options – would be an irresponsible and, potentially, irreversible, gamble. As a union, we’ve long called on the Government to help our steel sector to go green, following the example of other administrations in Europe and the US which have already taken far-ranging action.
22 OCT 2023
Tory ministers risk pushing Britain’s steel industry “over the edge” as it stands “at the brink”, a union leader warned today.
Writing for the Mirror, Community steelworkers’ union general secretary Roy Rickhuss hit out at a £1.25billion deal struck between the Government and Tata, which owns the UK’s biggest steel plant at Port Talbot, South Wales. The agreement to help the firm switch from traditional coal-fired blast furnaces to electric arc systems will cost taxpayers £500million and trigger 3,000 job losses.
Welsh Secretary David TC Davies hosted the first meeting of the Tata Steel-Port Talbot Transition Board at the site on Thursday. It aims to “support the people, businesses and communities affected by the proposed transition to low-CO2 steelmaking”, as the town and surrounding communities brace for the devastating jobs blow.
Mr Davies said: “We know that there are challenges ahead but I’m clear that we have the right people around the table who will all be doing their absolute best to facilitate the transition to greener steel and the impact that has on the community.” But in his article, Mr Rickhuss writes: “However, you look at it, the deal Tory ministers have struck with Tata is a bad one - disastrous for steelworkers and damaging for our country. Moving Port Talbot to an electric-arc furnace model would result in the potential loss of thousands of jobs on site and at other steel plants across the country.”
Closing the blast furnaces will slash Tata’s carbon emissions and boost the Government’s fight to hit net-zero by 2050. But campaigners want a mix of power at the plant to help save jobs.
Labour unveiled a £3bn plan to revolutionise the steel industry at its conference two years ago, including moving to less polluting manufacturing. Since then, thousands of job cuts have been announced and economic growth has stalled.
Mr Rickhuss warns: “After 13 years of inaction and neglect, this Conservative Government have less than 12 months left in office. They should use their remaining time to back our steel industry and support a just transition for Britain’s steelworkers - or they will be remembered in history as the Government that pushed us over the edge when we stood at the brink. Ultimately, we need a robust industrial strategy with steel at its heart – something only Keir Starmer and Labour will deliver.”
Steelworker Gary Keogh, 59, who has worked at Port Talbot for 37 years, told the Mirror: “Electric arc is not a silver bullet. We don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket and get caught up in something that could make it too late for the industry, because once it’s gone it’s gone. We welcome investment, of course we do, but I do not welcome annihilation of the British steelworkers.”
Local MP Stephen Kinnock, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Steel, said: “The Tata Steel-UK Government decarbonisation deal is unacceptable because it focuses narrowly on the electric arc furnace model, whereas it should also be ensuring that we continue to produce virgin steel in Port Talbot through low carbon technologies such as direct reduced iron. The EAF-only strategy will lead to far more job losses than is necessary, so I fully support Community and the other steel unions as they seek to persuade Tata to think again.”
Shadow Business Minister Sarah Jones said Labour “has a plan for steel, we want to invest in steel”. She added: “We want to work with the industry and work with unions to work out how we get high-paid, good-skilled jobs and the steel of the future that we need for this country.” Vowing to “see how we can make the steel industry core to everything we are doing going forward”, she added: “The steel industry is so important for our country.”
The Mirror has been campaigning to Save Our Steel since 2015.
Community steelworkers’ union general secretary Roy Rickhuss writes for the Mirror
However you look at it, the deal Tory ministers have struck with Tata is a bad one - disastrous for steelworkers and damaging for our country.
Moving Port Talbot to an electric-arc furnace (EAF) model would result in the potential loss of thousands of jobs on site and at other steel plants across the country. It’s also hugely short-sighted - an EAF-only future would see the UK importing primary steel; our own industry would no longer be self-sufficient and carbon emissions would be offshored to heavy polluters overseas.
Ploughing ahead with EAF and removing blast furnaces – without considering other sustainable direct reduced iron and hydrogen options – would be an irresponsible and, potentially, irreversible, gamble. As a union, we’ve long called on the Government to help our steel sector to go green, following the example of other administrations in Europe and the US which have already taken far-ranging action.
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