Tata steel giant executives to be questioned over Port Talbot closure plans
Bosses at steel giant Tata will be quizzed on Wednesday following the company's decision to close the blast furnaces at their biggest UK plant, risking up to 2,800 jobs.
Politicians and union leaders are also set to speak before the Welsh Affairs committee including the Welsh Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething, and the Secretary of State for Wales, David TC Davies. Steelworkers have planned protests outside Parliament.
They want to highlight the disastrous job impacts that will result from closing down the blast furnaces at Port Talbot, situated in south Wales. Tata aims to pivot to a more eco-friendly method of steel production that demands fewer workers.
The committee will look at the effects this decision will hold for the Welsh steel industry, the community and the economy. The meeting will also touch upon the future prospects of the UK's steel sector.
Assistant General Secretary of the Community Union, Alasdair McDiarmid said: "I look forward to putting forward the case for our credible multi-union plan for Port Talbot and the Welsh steel industry to the Committee. The UK Government's bad deal for steel would be devastating to the Welsh economy and, in degrading Britain's primary steelmaking capacity, represents a grave threat to the UK's sovereignty and national security apparatus.
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"We're very pleased that there has been such strong support for our plan from the Labour benches, along with a firm commitment to £3 billion of investment in our steel industry over the next decade. At this critical juncture, we need to see far more ambition from the current government, whose ministers over the last week alone have refused to confirm whether they think the UK should even have the ability to produce virgin steel."
He added: "It's important that Conservative MPs including those on the Committee who will have workers from Port Talbot, Trostre and Llanwern living in their constituencies now make the case to the ministers that steel communities across the country feel badly let down, and will never forgive this government if they continue with the destructive bad deal agreed with Tata."
Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, GMB national officer, said: "These steel workers have got everything on the line their jobs, the security of their families, the whole future of their town. They need to hear first hand Tata bosses try and justify why their putting thousands of people out of work."
"The UK has gone from a huge steel exporter 15 years ago, to now importing £2 billion worth every year. Soon we won't even be able to make primary steel in this country. It's a national disgrace."
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham stated: "If Tata are committed to UK steel and want to benefit from that investment as they say it is vital that they heed Labour's call not to make any 'irreversible decisions' about Port Talbot until after the general election. That means shelving its plan to shut down both blast furnaces and make mass redundancies."
Tata says it is losing £1 million a day, but insists that the switch to greener production will save thousands of jobs.
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]
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