Closing Port Talbot steelworks is a BFD?

[Bigwelshlamb]

How is there not more outcry about this? Is it because it's couched under the terms of being 'greener'?

I hear you op. I feel so sorry for the employees and the business’s dependent on them. It’s very bad news, more quality jobs going.

It's ridiculous. We'll need to import steel from places like China, which is far less green. And have a load of people unemployed. Bloody stupid logic

I think exporting our carbon heavy industry is much less green globally speaking and agree with PP it also involves being at the mercy of those who have questionable human rights records and very few environmental constraints: hence the cheap steel.

This will be the death of my home town. Im so sad about it

I couldn't agree with you more. I am so sad about it and everyone on the news seems so completely resigned to the inevitability of it closing. This is a massive mistake.

Tata to Tata at Port Talbot. Devastating for the area. Wales has lost so much industry over the past 100 years.

Ditto. It is bad enough now.

It's very sad for the people who are losing their jobs. Not sure if I have misremembered, but didn't they announce the site would be closed to close in 2016 as it wasn't financially viable, but the devaluation of the pound after brexit vote gave it a lifeline as British steel suddenly became competitively priced? So, in fact, that they are able to evolve the site is a far better outlook than what they were facing 7 years ago? I know that doesn't really help all those poor families now though. But maybe there is hope for the future. And yes, I know that doesn't help now.

It’s awful and so shortsighted. They need a serious plan for the thousands of people who will lose their jobs or it’ll be like the closure of the mines all over again. Places like Merthyr Tydfil never recovered.

I'm in Scunthorpe and the gloom here is awful. It will be us next I fear. 😫

Think you're a bit right about the Brexshit pound devaluation but there was also the matter of Gideon Osbourne not putting tariffs on Chinese steel too. It needs nationalising. We are the only G20 country without its own means of production for steel... We still need it and now we'll be buying in lower quality steel from China. Watch the prices rise....... I cannot believe there's so little reaction to it, as another pp said, it's like the mines closing all over again.

Steel Mill Pictorial | Facebook

Very sad about all the jobs that will be lost. Also shocked to see a thread of close to where I live 😂

How many billions of £££a has the government given Tata?

I'm also not too far away from Port Talbot, and dread the ripple effect this will have on other businesses in the surrounding areas.

More of the same from the Tory party. Selling off the family silver and allowing British industry to wither and die. So sad.

Another one close here. Devastating but not surprising I don’t think. The site has been declining for many years. It’ll be very strange to see no blast furnaces when driving by if they get taken down. Years ago I was driving home from Cardiff when the radio mentioned there had been an explosion turned my head and saw the enormous flames. I cannot see the Tories nationalising it despite UK being left without steel production.

So sorry to hear this. Another nail in the coffin of the Welsh workers.

Well, people say they want Net Zero, but obviously don't consider the consequences...... 🤷‍♀️

There will still be steel production - the method will change which it requires a smaller workforce.

Yes but there will be no virgin steel ie from raw ingredients steel production within the UK

Been in the steel industry for 40yrs, job centre says I’ve got to look for work ok. Oh look! the cafe in the high st needs staff, I’ll give it a go.
This will have a serious impact on Wales, feel very sorry for them, it will sadly I think be a nasty box of dominoes

It's like when the pits closed - The closures were necessary and unavoidable and foreseeable

What's not necessary is the complete lack of planning from the government to ensure a smooth transition to other work

Imagine if we had invested in battery factories or other green tech

Or even just made sure to move another government office out of London

This country made the best steel in the world for years, no argument on that front.
Countless governments have simply destroyed this industry without any forward thinking, with regards to the effect it would have on the communities, and the economy.
We are now a country that imports cheap and inferior quality steel for major construction projects on the pretence that it is “better”.
Trust me it is not better, it’s a corrupt system with false certificates of conformity pertaining to the material. Wait till these projects (and some already have) when flaws are unveiled pertaining to the steel. The consequences of this happening are dire. If steel fails, the whole build cannot undergo remedial works.
This surge in super high build construction depends on using high quality steel, if that fails then its game over. It’s an absolute disgrace what has happened to the steel industry, in this country.
Communities have been ripped apart, all in the name of greed.

It's horrible. It worries me how dependant we are on other countries for crucial things.