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Tata Steel industrial site, Taibach, Neath Port Talbot

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c23kdg1y50yo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Talbot_Steelworks

"Port Talbot Steelworks is an integrated steel production plant in Port Talbot, Wales, capable of producing nearly 5 million tonnes of steel slab per annum. This makes it the larger of the two major steel plants in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. Over 4,000 people work at the plant.[1]

The majority of the slab is rolled on-site at Port Talbot and at the Newport Llanwern site to make a variety of steel strip products. The remainder is processed at other Tata Steel plants or sold in slab form. The works covers a large area of land which dominates the east of the town. Its two blast furnaces [2] and steel production plant buildings are major landmarks visible from both the M4 motorway and the South Wales Main Line when passing through the town.

The site at Margam is made up of a number of plants across a large site, developed since 1901. Steelmaking at the Port Talbot complex began with the Margam Iron and Steel Works, completed between 1923 and 1926.

In September 2023 the UK Government agreed to pay Tata a £500 million subsidy in order for it to invest in an electric arc furnace. This was in a bid to cut emissions resulting from the carbon-intensity of the current blast furnaces. Trade unions worried that the increased autonomy of the electric arc furnace would lead to job losses. Unions presented the firm with a plan to keep one of the two blast furnaces open until 2032 in order to minimise job losses. The firm rejected the plan, announcing in January 2024 that they would close both blast furnaces, putting 3,000 jobs at risk. [14][15]

With Tata being the largest private employer in Port Talbot, concerns have been raised regarding the future economic health of the town.[14]

There has been controversy among some commentators around the causes behind Tata choosing to close the blast furnaces in 2024 as opposed to accepting the proposal from unions to keep them open as the plant transitioned to more environmentally friendly methods of production. Many commentators have blamed Net Zero targets. [16]

However, Labour former Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones pointed to the UK's decision to leave the EU as a factor, stating that the uncertainty caused by Brexit resulted in reluctance to invest in the plant and had made it less competitive and less viable as a business, highlighting that Tata was retaining blast furnace operations in the Netherlands and choosing to close them in the UK. [17]

Figures from the steel industry had for some time been warning that leaving the EU would have a negative impact on UK steel, [18] and Stephen Kinnock, Port Talbot's MP, had also warned prior to the referendum that the UK choosing to leave the EU would be "a disaster" for the UK's steel industry.[19] The negative impact from Brexit as a result of uncertainty and lower EU customer orders was cited as one of the reasons behind the liquidation of British Steel, previously owned by Tata, prior to the UK even leaving the EU. [20]

Following the UK's departure from the EU and the implementation of the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, UK steel exports to the EU dropped significantly [21] and high-profile industry figures spoke out about the impact the TCA, which imposed some tariffs and quotas on UK steel exports, was having on UK steel. [22] British Steel had also made a submission to the UK Parliament highlighting the importance of the EU market, which according to their figures accounted for 70% of UK steel exports, urging them to revise the TCA. [23] Tata themselves also acknowledged that Brexit had increased their operating costs, estimating that it had added around 15% to the cost of transport and processing. [24]"