Yahoo Finance Tories accused of abandoning Port Talbot steelworkers
Rishi Sunak and Tata Steel have been accused of abandoning Welsh steelworkers after the Government failed to deploy a single penny of a £100m rescue fund that was set aside to help those made redundant find new jobs.
Labour and union bosses have launched a withering attack on the record of the “transition board”, an advisory council that was set up in the wake of Tata Steel’s controversial plans to close two blast furnaces in Port Talbot, south Wales.
The board, chaired by David Davies, the Welsh Secretary, was tasked with ensuring that the money set aside would be invested in skills and regeneration programmes in the area. The funding includes £80m from the Government and £20m from Tata Steel.
However, the Opposition has dismissed the board as nothing more than “a talking shop”.
Tata’s restructuring – part of a sweeping cost-cutting exercise that the Indian industrial giant insists is necessary to meet its environmental goals – will lead to 2,800 job losses among the workforce. Many thousands more are expected to disappear within the surrounding supply chain, according to a report commissioned by the transition board itself.
Yet nearly seven months after the board was set up, none of the money provided has been spent.
“Thousands of jobs are at risk in Port Talbot and steel communities across south Wales because Conservative ministers have failed to act. The Welsh Secretary’s transition board looks more like a talking shop,” Jo Stevens, Labour’s shadow Welsh secretary, said.
Labour said the transition board had met five times and formed two sub-committees since it was formed but “achieved little else”.
The Community trade union has backed Labour’s calls to speed up the process. It wants to see an employment guarantee that provides wage support until those made redundant re-enter employment.
Labour has also committed to an additional £2.5bn of investment if it wins the general election and party figures have repeatedly urged Tata not to make any irreversible decisions about the future of Port Talbot prior to a general election.
A UK government spokesman said: “This government is supporting the steel industry more than any before it ... with a £500m grant as part of the £1.25bn commitment by Tata Steel to secure 5,000 jobs across the UK.
“This includes the £100m awarded to the Port Talbot transition board, which is investing directly in skills, training and job creation for the workers affected.”
A Tory source also pointed out that there were Labour officials on the board, including Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock. “The shadow secretary of state is criticising a board that is packed with senior Labour figures,” the source said.
“Her statement shows a lack of understanding about what the transition board is there to do, what it has been doing and who is on it.”
