Steel industry needs money soon, union boss warns

Tata steelworks employs 4,000 people in Port Talbot

Talks involving the UK government and the biggest steelworks about financial support could conclude shortly, according to the Welsh secretary.

David TC Davies said the talks to provide subsidies to cut emissions had reached "an interesting stage".

It has been reported the UK's biggest steelworks, employing 4,000 in Port Talbot, is asking the UK government for £1.5bn to help decarbonise the site.

The head of Wales' trades unions said the money "needs to come soon".

"The sad part of this is that we've already seen what happened back in the '80s when the pits closed and we had no plan," Shavanah Taj, Wales' TUC general secretary, told BBC Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement.

"Those communities got decimated and left behind. If we're not careful the same thing will happen here.

"We need to have a plan for steel and there is a plan - the trades unions [TUC], the employers and even the Welsh government have been talking on a regular basis.

"They have got a plan for the future but the money isn't there," she added.

• Liberty Steel restructuring puts 440 jobs at risk

• Steelworks could close down without subsidy deal

As part of its plan to lessen the Port Talbot site's impact on the environment, Tata is believed to want to close two blast furnaces and build two electric arc furnaces, that will be less carbon intensive.

Speaking on BBC Politics Wales, Mr Davies said discussions involved the UK government and a number of steel companies in the UK.

Molten steel rolling off a production line at Port Talbot steelworks

"I think they're reaching quite an interesting stage. I had a discussion about that in the last 48 hours and I think we might see some news shortly about it," he added.

The union Unite has written a letter to the UK government seeking an urgent meeting to push for more support for a steel industry it said was "a whisker away from collapse".

Unite has accused the UK government of taking "little meaningful action" to help the industry.

It comes after Liberty Steel announced 440 jobs were at risk under plans to mothball three factories, including sites in Newport and Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent.

Mr TC Davies told Politics Wales: "I certainly think the steel industry is in a difficult situation at the moment for a variety of factors and the government recognises that.

"We've put in place, for example, the energy bill guarantee scheme so we're making sure that businesses don't foot the full price for the increase that's been caused... as a result of the invasion of the Ukraine.

"We've put an extra £800m in to the steel industry over the last 10 years to recognise the fact that they were already paying high energy prices as a result of the large amounts of electricity they use and the carbon taxes.

"We've set up around £1.5bn in various different funds, which steel companies can bid in to in order to try and decarbonise," he added.