Why Farage's aim to reopen blast furnaces is virtually impossible to achieve

REFORM UK says it expects to not only take seats in the Senedd at the election next year, but also win enough to govern Wales.

- RUTH MOSALSKI Political editor [e-mail]

To kickstart its campaign, party leader Nigel Farage visited Wales to give a speech in Port Talbot.

Made in front of a private audience of a handful of Reform councillors and journalists, Mr Farage said it was the first public discussion of any policies from his party.

Ahead of it, his team had briefed lines of policies to the media, including two particularly eye-catching aims:

More coal mining in Wales: Mr Farage says: "We would allow coal, if suitable, to be mined in Wales".

"Re-open" Port Talbot steelworks: Mr Farage said "more coal mining is part of Reform's long-term ambition to re-open the Port Talbot Steelworks, but we know this will not be quick or easy".

The steelworks at Port Talbot is not closed, but there is a transition from blast furnaces to an electric arc furnace under way.

The two remaining blast furnaces were closed in 2024, resulting in thousands of job losses.

Indian steel giant Tata runs the plant and said it had closed the blast furnaces because they were at the end of their life, huge emitters of greenhouse gas CO2 and it was simply unsustainable to keep up with financial losses of £1m a day.

The company insists the new electric arc furnace would reduce emissions and secure the future of any steelmaking at the Port Talbot site.

The switch is being funded by £500m of UK Government money, with the rest of the £1.25bn investment coming from Tata.

Tata said it would produce a different type of steel, but that was something it has market demand for.

However, looking at the blast furnace pledge specifically, once a blast furnace is turned off it is all but impossible to turn it back on.

That's not only because at the centre of the existing blast furnaces is now a solid, 300-tonne slab of iron, but because the blast furnaces did not operate in isolation.