Port Talbot uncertainty 'hitting supply chain jobs'

Uncertainty over the future of Tata Steel in south Wales is already causing job losses in the broader industry, the Welsh secretary has said, as the government scrambles to reduce the toll of redundancies in Port Talbot.

- Jasper Jolly

Speaking yesterday before announcing the first £13.5m tranche of funding to support laid-off workers, the secretary of state for Wales, Jo Stevens, criticised the last Conservative government for what she said was a failure to prepare for thousands of possible jobs losses at Port Talbot.

Tata Steel last September announced the replacement of the two blast furnaces at Port Talbot with an electric arc furnace. That will dramatically cut the carbon emissions produced at the plant - equivalent to nearly 2% of all UK emissions - but has also put 2,800 workers at sites in south Wales at risk of redundancy.

Tata received a promise of £500m in subsidies from the Conservative government to make the switch, but the new Labour government is negotiating over further support in return for retaining more jobs.