STANDING WITH OUR STEEL COMMUNITIES

Ahead of a crucial meeting of the board of Tata Steel to discuss the future of the company’s Port Talbot site, Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood said:

“This is a difficult day for those working in the steel industry as they wait to hear for a decision on the future of Port Talbot steelworks. Wales has a long tradition of steel production, and the industry could have a good future here with the right support from government.

“It is important is that Tata knows that the whole country is behind the workforce and that there is a great commitment to the steel industry and its workforce here, and I hope that the Welsh Government has communicated that to senior management at the company.

"We have a skilled and experienced steel workforce in Wales and I hope that the Welsh Government will be proactive as it fights for their future.”

Plaid Cymru South Wales West AM Bethan Jenkins said:

“The people of Port Talbot face a difficult wait for news today. Given the gravity of the decision being taken today, the Welsh Government should be proactive in seeking to protect the future of steel production in Wales.

That's why I cannot understand why the Labour Welsh Government has not sent a representative to Mumbai today to make the case for Welsh steel directly to the board. Neither is the Conservative Secretary of State for Wales present. This industry is too important to lose and I hope that both governments have made serious representations to the company.”

HELP WELSH STEEL WORKERS

Plaid Cymru MP Jonathan Edwards has accused the UK government of singularly failing to protect the Welsh steel industry from market volatility and called on the Government to implement measures such as an employer’s national insurance contribution break for West Wales and the Valleys to support against the impact of job losses. 

Following an urgent statement in the House of Commons, Jonathan Edwards MP said,

“Today’s announcement is a devastating blow to the workers and communities of Port Talbot, Llanwern and Llanelli. The steel industry supports thousands of workers across the region, with Tata Steel contributing around £3.2 billion annually to the Welsh economy.”

“The UK Government has singularly failed to protect the steel industry from the volatility of the markets, despite repeated warnings. Artificially cheap steel is being dumped every week from countries such as Russia and China, drowning the UK market and undercutting Welsh-produced steel.”  

“The dumping of Chinese steel is one of the biggest contributors to this crisis. But the UK Government has done little to help the flailing steel industry at home, choosing instead to promote China’s bid for market economy status which would further decimate our steel industry.”  

“Ensuring market fairness for our steel industry should be a top priority for the UK Government. It should be pursued with the same drive as we saw when the banks were bailed out in 2008.”

"The UK Government should also be pressing to implement measures such as an employer’s national insurance contribution break for West Wales and the Valleys. This area is one of the most economically disadvantaged areas in Western Europe and contains the steel plants at Trostre and Port Talbot. Measures such as this would support against the impact of these job losses and provide a boost for the area."

“Plaid Cymru has put forward constructive proposals to save the steel industry in Wales and called on the Welsh Government to urgently consider all options, including taking a temporary stake in Tata Steel to protect workers and guard this key industry, a backbone of the Welsh economy, against these challenging economic conditions.”           

“So far the Welsh First Minister has chosen to ignore these calls, including those made by his own party leader, choosing instead to treat Welsh steelworkers as pawns in a political blame game between the Welsh Government and Westminster.”

“Whilst the Tories and Labour refuse to step up to the plate, Plaid Cymru will press both the UK and Welsh Government to do all they can to protect the jobs of our steel workers.”

SOME ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT…

Making tracks for Cymru / Wales?

The study for the Campaign for Better Transport, which makes interesting reading, shows that rail services in Wales are used less, have lower levels of passenger satisfaction, are lagging behind other parts of the UK and could be improved by devolving responsibility for our railways from Westminster to Wales. The report was released as details were released of a £ 24 million pounds ( includes £17m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) £ 5.1 million pounds from the Welsh Government, £ 700,000 pounds from Network Rail, and £ 400,000 pounds from Arriva Trains Wales) for much needed upgrades of railway stations at Rhyl, Aberystwyth, Pontypridd, Port Talbot Parkway and Ystrad Mynach. Improvements to the five railway stations will see welcome improvements to customer facilities, better access, increased capacity and more park and ride spaces.

The devolved Scottish rail service has delivered more and fared better than our rail service which is still managed by Whitehall. Discussions between the Department for Transport and the Welsh government in relation to scoping out the feasibility of devolving responsibilities for the rail franchise held until 2018 by Arriva Trains Wales are said to be on-going. Any comparison between Scotland and Wales is pretty much always going to be stark, with devolved management of services in Scotland consistently delivering significantly better results than the equivalent un-devolved management of services in Wales. Wales and Welsh interests are always going to come pretty low down the list in the priorities of a largely England focused Whitehall government department.  

There is considerable room for improvement when it comes to the provision and development of our railway services here in Wales. Firstly, full control of the transport budget and related planning regulations needed to be devolved to the Welsh Government and secondly when the franchise is renewed in 2018 the railways in Wales should be run on a  not for dividend profit basis, with all profits being ring fenced and reinvested into our railways. The healthy profits run up during the period when the East Coast mainline serve has been run by the Westminster Government after the collapse of the private franchise shows what could possibly be achieved here in our country.