Tata won't change mind on job cuts - FM says

Vaughan Gething met Tata boss TV Narendran and other senior executives in Mumbai on Friday

Tata Steel is not going to change its position in public on its plans for thousands of job losses, mostly in Port Talbot, First Minister Vaughan Gething has said.

After meeting senior executives in Mumbai, Mr Gething said the "only way to shift their position realistically is if there was a different UK government".

But the Welsh Conservatives said that while UK Tory ministers "put over half a billion pounds on the table" to save jobs "the only cash the Labour Welsh government has spent is on this trip to India".

Tata announced 2,800 UK job cuts in January, along with the closure of both blast furnaces in Port Talbot, as part of a transition to greener steelmaking.

The two furnaces are due to close by September, with construction due to begin on a new electric furnace, which will use recycled steel, in the summer of 2025.

With predictions a general election could take place in October or November, or even as late as January next year, Mr Gething said the poll might be too late for any changes to be made to Tata's plans.

Mr Gething said he told Tata that UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was most likely to be the next prime minister and "made clear there is a different future available on capital investment".

But he said "we won't see a shift" on Tata's plans "this side of a general election", which he said "may come too late".

"All of the work might already have been done to decommission that final blast furnace.

He said it was his "duty" as first minister to "go out and fight for thousands of jobs directly within the steelworks" and avoid compulsory redundancies at Tata.

'How can I sit at home?'

UK government ministers said they were supporting the steel industry with "one of the biggest support packages in history", including a £500m grant, as it moves to greener production.

Tory Senedd group leader Andrew RT Davies said: "While the UK government has put over half a billion pounds on the table to save steel jobs in Port Talbot, the only cash the Labour Welsh Government has spent is on this trip to India.

"Vaughan Gething should stop globetrotting to divert from his domestic problems and measure his support for our steelworkers in pounds and pence."

Mr Gething rejected the suggestion his trip to India was "posturing" because of criticism at home over controversial donations to his recent Welsh Labour leadership campaign.

"How can I sit at home and not be here in Mumbai, fighting for thousands of workers' jobs?" he said.

"I'm doing the right thing for my country, and proud to do so.

"It's more important to me that I do the right thing than worry about people from the sidelines."

The Port Talbot site, originally known as Abbey Steelworks, has been making steel since 1951

Tata chief executive TV Narendran described Friday's meeting as a "productive discussion with the new first minister of Wales about progressing our plans to secure the future of steelmaking in south Wales".

He said the new electric arc furnace in Port Talbot would "help safeguard steel sovereignty in Britain, preserve 5,000 jobs, support our customers, and reduce CO2 emissions by five million tonnes each year".

Mr Narendran said support, including mental health, was being offered to workers along with the "most generous financial support package ever offered to outgoing employees".

“Tata Steel has always been a responsible, long-term and patient investor in its UK business, and we are committing significant additional capital to ensure that we can create an operationally, financially and environmentally sustainable business for the future,” he added.

The GMB union called Tata's latest redundancy offer "state sponsored decimation of a community".

On Thursday, it was announced that members of the largest steelworkers’ union, Community, had voted in favour of industrial action over the restructuring.

Plaid Cymru's economy spokesman Luke Fletcher called for nationalisation of the steel industry and dubbed Tata's attitude to worker's "appalling".

"A responsible company doesn't act like this," he added.