Saturday, April 12, 2025
Anger as Labour favour Scunthorpe over Port Talbot
The paper quotes the Prime Minister as stating that the future of the British Steel plant in Scunthorpe "hangs in the balance", as he vowed that the government will "keep all options on the table" amid calls for nationalisation. However, they add that Plaid Cymru has questioned why the government did not intervene to protect Port Talbot steelworks in the same way it is acting over Scunthorpe:
Both the Commons and the Lords will return to Parliament for a rare Saturday sitting to debate a law aimed at securing the future of the plant in North Lincolnshire. Jingye, the Chinese owner of British Steel, plans to close the blast furnaces and switch to a greener form of production.
Speaking from Downing Street, Sir Keir said: "As Prime Minister, I will always act in the national interest to protect British jobs and British workers. This afternoon, the future of British Steel hangs in the balance. Jobs, investment, growth, our economic and national security are all on the line."
He said that while the UK is facing a "new era of global instability", concerns about the plant and talks to protect it have been going on "for years". This moment could have happened at any time, but it has happened now, and I will not stand by. There is no time to waste," he said.
"So we are recalling Parliament tomorrow for a Saturday sitting. We will pass emergency legislation in one day to give the Business Secretary the powers to do everything possible to stop the closure of these blast furnaces. And as I have said, we will keep all options on the table."
However, in response Plaid’s Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts MP said: “Parliament is being recalled tomorrow to debate the nationalisation of Scunthorpe steelworks.
“But when global market forces devastated Welsh livelihoods in Port Talbot, Labour dismissed Plaid Cymru’s calls for nationalisation as ‘pipe dreams’. In a real emergency, governments step up to defend their strategic interests. Plaid Cymru recognised the importance of Welsh steelmaking. Labour chose to look the other way.
“When it was Wales, they mocked. Now it’s England, they act. Labour has taken Wales for granted for far too long – and the people of Wales won’t forget it.”
As one local journalist tweeted, if steel collapses in Port Talbot, that's market forces, but if it collapses in Scunthorpe then Labour will hold a special Saturday sitting and nationalisation to save their jobs.
It is good news for workers in Lincolnshire, but a slap in the face for those who left behind in Wales.
