UK Government’s British Steel intervention branded ‘bitter disappointment for Port Talbot’

Daniel Bevan - Senior Journalist

The UK Government’s move to intervene in British Steel has been branded a “bitter disappointment for Port Talbot” by opposition parties.

The legislation will give the UK Government the power to direct the company’s board and workforce, ensure they get paid, and order the raw materials to keep the blast furnace running.

The UK Government had been in negotiations with British Steel’s owners, Jingye, and tabled an offer of £500 million in co-investment.

Despite this, the company confirmed their intention to close the blast furnaces at Scunthorpe immediately.

However, this comes less than a year since the blast furnaces at Tata Steel’s site in Port Talbot were switched off for the final time.

As part of a plan to move to greener steelmaking in South Wales, the current blast furnaces will be replaced by Electric Arc Furnaces, ending virgin steelmaking in Port Talbot.

The move has been backed by £500 million in UK Government investment, but the transition will still see thousands of jobs being lost from the site.

Speaking in the Commons, Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader, Liz Saville Roberts MP, said:
“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.”

In reply to Ms. Saville Roberts, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds MP told the House:
“We were not able to reopen the deal, but we did negotiate a better deal,” due to the negotiations having been started by the previous Conservative Government.

The Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning, Rebecca Evans MS, said:
“The situation debated in the UK Parliament today is different from the one we faced with Tata Steel.

“The deal secured in Wales was a deal not just for the here and now, but also for the future of steel. The UK Government, following its election, was able to negotiate a much better deal for the Tata Steel plant in Port Talbot than the plan announced in September 2023.

“It may not have been the deal that we would have wished for, but given the parameters and the time pressures to secure the build of the new Electric Arc Furnace, it was a substantially improved deal.

“The transition to an Electric Arc Furnace at Port Talbot builds a bridge to a more sustainable future for the company.

“We want our steel sector in Wales to thrive, and the transition now taking place at Port Talbot provides a clear and set path for a long-term future.

“We continue to engage with the company on the transition, the significant opportunities, and its future plans — including for the downstream sites throughout Wales.”

In a statement regarding the intervention into British Steel, Mr. Reynolds said:
“We will always do what is necessary to keep Britain secure at home and strong abroad. We are doing what previous governments have failed to — acting in the national interest to help secure UK steelmaking for the future.

“We negotiated with British Steel’s owners in good faith ever since coming to office. We made a generous offer of support to the company, and I am deeply disappointed that we have been forced to take these measures. But Jingye have not been forthright throughout this process and left us no choice but to act.

“We’re in a new and changing world where it’s never been more important to support our security and build our resilience, so that we can have strength abroad and renewal at home — and that’s what this government has done.”