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Future of Port Talbot Steelworks

Is this devolved to Wales?

Where is this happening?

What's happening?

Why is this happening?

Who has been affected?

What's happening?

Why is this happening?

Who has been affected?

Welsh indices of production and construction, basic metals and metal products (100 = level at 2023)

Jobseekers Allowance, claimant count, Neath Port Talbot (since September 2024/closure of blast furnaces)

£ 00 million Total

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Who has raised this at the Senedd?

Rhun ap Iorwerth MS

First Minister

Adam Price MS

Enterprise & Energy Minister

Elyn Stephens MS

Backbencher

Elwyn Vaughan MS

Chair: Economy & Energy

Dan Thomas MS

Backbencher

Ben McKenna MS

Shadow Health Minister

Jason O'Connell MS

Shadow Economy Minister

Shav Taj MS

Backbencher

Janet Finch-Saunders MS

Backbencher

Darren Millar MS

Conservative Group Leader

Rhun ap Iorwerth MS

First Minister

Adam Price MS

Enterprise & Energy Minister

Elyn Stephens MS

Backbencher

Elwyn Vaughan MS

Chair: Economy & Energy

Dan Thomas MS

Backbencher

Ben McKenna MS

Shadow Health Minister

Jason O'Connell MS

Shadow Economy Minister

Shav Taj MS

Backbencher

Janet Finch-Saunders MS

Backbencher

Darren Millar MS

Conservative Group Leader

What are the party positions on this?

Plaid Cymru MSs supported the Steel Nationalisation Bill, but have expressed disappointment that nationalisation wasn’t considered for Port Talbot in the same way as it was for British Steel.

The Prime Minister came to Port Talbot last month (August 2026), promising re-industrialisation and good, secure jobs. The UK's own steel strategy says that Wales is expected to account for around half of the UK's steel-making capacity, yet just days after the Prime Minister's visit, his Government was asked two very straightforward questions: how much of its £2.5 billion steel commitment had been spent or allocated and how much of that had been spent in Wales? It could provide a figure for neither.

Members of the sixth Senedd will remember Luke Fletcher's calls for the UK Government to bring the Port Talbot site into public ownership and retain primary steel making throughout the transition. At the time, those proposals were ridiculed and dismissed as fanciful. Yet, here we are today, discussing the implications for Cymru of a UK Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill. It's abundantly clear, regardless of which party is in power at Westminster, what was deemed necessary for Scunthorpe was apparently too much to ask for Port Talbot.

Reform supported the Steel Nationalisation Bill and, in principle, back the electric arc furnace.

However, Reform UK has long placed the blame for job losses at Port Talbot on environmental rules tied to “net zero”. They have also expressed support for restarting blast furnace production.

The fire at the steelworks in Port Talbot is an event that has caused great concern for many of my constituents, not only for the safety of the workforce involved, but also for the impact that this may have on the ongoing work to install the electric arc furnace. We've already seen further concerns raised this week regarding potential delays to the arc furnace. Thousands of people in Port Talbot have already lost their livelihoods due to the closure of the blast furnaces, and now many more people face anxiety about their future with the prospect of these delays.

Reform believes Britain must do everything it can to retain the ability to make its own steel. Our MPs supported this Bill in Westminster, and today we will support it in the Senedd....Thanks to praying at the altar of net zero, we all now know that economic decline comes hand in hand with net zero. The blast furnaces have gone, thousands of livelihoods have been affected, and Britain has become more dependent on imported steel as a result.

In April, I met Tata's chief executive, along with our shadow Cabinet Minister for industry. It was a positive meeting, but given the £500 million of taxpayer investment and given the number of Welsh jobs at stake, we managed to secure reassurance that the (electric) arc construction was on track and that it was still viable.

Labour have backed previous efforts to protect jobs at the Port Talbot site and have also supported the Senedd giving its consent to the Steel Nationalisation Bill.

Working in social partnership with our unions, the Welsh Government and the UK Government invested in helping workers find new opportunities and new careers, with Port Talbot becoming a model for a worker-centred just transition. Instead of leaving people behind to fend for themselves, unions, the Welsh Government and the UK Government invested in helping workers find new opportunities and new careers.

Whilst wanting to support the steel industry, the Conservatives have expressed scepticism about government involvement and the impact of environmental targets.

The Conservatives opposed the UK Parliament’s Steel Nationalisation Act.

Before the closure of Tata Steel's blast furnace at Port Talbot, Wales's steel accounted for 60 per cent of total UK crude steel output and primary iron, it employed over 4,000 people—a figure that has now sadly halved—it contributed around £3.2 billion per year to the Welsh economy, and it represented approximately 3 per cent of Wales's total economic output.....Any decisions affecting the future of this sector will have lasting consequences.

We know from figures published just last week that industrial emissions fell by 25 per cent in 2024 due to the closure of Tata's coal-fired blast furnaces in Port Talbot. But, of course, it's nothing to celebrate, because not only has it wiped out, the carbon tax, our sovereign steel-making capacity here in Wales, we now are simply importing steel from overseas, from other more heavily polluting nations, and pushing our carbon-reduction plans into the bin.

Green MSs haven’t said anything on this yet, but voted to support the Steel Nationalisation Bill.

Test Test Test

Jane Dodds hasn’t said anything on this specifically, but voted to support the Steel Nationalisation Bill.

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Who is responsible?

Adam Price MS

Enterprise & Energy Minister

What have ministers said?

But I must also be honest with the Senedd: welcoming this (Steel Nationalisation) Bill is a bittersweet experience. When the blast furnaces at Port Talbot hung in the balance in 2024, we were told by Westminster .... that nationalisation was not on the table. Roughly 2,600 people lost their livelihoods. A year later, when Scunthorpe's furnaces came under the same threat, Parliament was recalled on a Saturday to keep them burning. Suddenly, every option was on the table. That was the difference, and Wales felt it keenly. I deeply regret that the purpose at the heart of this legislation before us today was not embraced in time to save the blast furnaces at Port Talbot.

My Government is determined to do all that we can to support investment at Tata. My Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy did speak yesterday with Tata Steel UK's chief executive officer in order to discuss the way ahead, in terms of the electricity connection. Many of the powers, of course, are in the hands of UK Government, but we will do everything in our powers as a Welsh Government to facilitate progress towards the delivery of that investment, and that is why my Minister acted so quickly.

Welsh Government will work with companies, UK Government and the national wealth fund, which now has control over that £2.5 billion, to explore how support can be maximised and must be maximised for our steel communities across Wales. Let me be clear, if there is investment being made in the steel sector, UK Government must set out clearly how they plan to support the Welsh steel industry, which is what is important to us here.

What's being done about this?

What do the Welsh Government want to do?

Does this need a new law or regulations?

How long will this take?

What do the Welsh Government want to do?

Does this need a new law or regulations?

How long will this take?

What have the Senedd's Committees said?

Nothing has been discussed yet.

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