00:00 To put it as plainly as I can, there is no path to net zero that doesn't involve domestic
00:08 steel production. That's why it's important for us to think about the future of this sector.
00:15 And I say this with all due respect, but that's why the lack of urgency, vision and ambition
00:20 over the last decade or so from central government has been disappointing. We're not talking
00:26 about a nice to have. We're talking about one of the most important resources and production
00:30 capabilities a country can have. Now I fully recognise that the UK government have stepped
00:36 in with £500 million and £100 million transition fund as well. We heard from the economy minister
00:42 and first minister yesterday about the £3 billion on the table for the UK wide sector
00:47 from UK Labour if they win the general election. There have been alternatives to what Tata's
00:53 plan has been laid out to be, and that involves keeping as many jobs as possible in Port Talbot.
00:57 The plan moves into a more environmentally friendly form of steelmaking and continues
01:01 production in Port Talbot. Tata have received half a billion pounds in funding from the
01:05 UK government, but that came with no promise of job security. What a sorry position we
01:10 have found ourselves in. We have gone from one of the leading countries in the world
01:14 in the production of quality steel to mere importers of it. There is another way, and
01:20 I am grateful to my trade union colleagues and community, GMB and Unite, for working
01:24 hard over the last several months to produce that credible alternative plan for steel in
01:28 the UK, which can save jobs and keep us in a country that produces its own steel. And
01:34 they commissioned the leading experts of steel production. It's not them, it's experts in
01:37 steel production, Syndex, to produce a report which came up with that alternative to this
01:41 drastic cliff edge decision. Now I encourage everyone to follow and support that. I am
01:46 also encouraged by UK Labour's £3 billion green steel pledge. I know Duke said it was
01:51 not enough.
01:52 Port Talbot is steelmaking. Before the current plant was opened, Celtic tribes had their
01:56 own form of making steel, so the process is inground into the area. A recent plan of free
02:01 ports and their ability to create wealth for an area has been put forward by the Tories,
02:05 but that plan is far more long-term and workers want assurances that jobs and production can
02:10 be continued into the short term.
02:12 I appreciate the ambition here is longer term, which is why the short-term measures like
02:17 the UK Government transition fund are so essential. I called it a UK Government fund, but of course
02:23 it has Welsh Government representatives as part of it. But I call it a UK Government
02:29 fund because it's the UK Government that's put forward the money, £100 million of it
02:33 to be exact. But not one single penny has been put in by the Welsh Government. Not one
02:39 penny.
02:41 We heard it yesterday, and I'm sure we'll hear it again from the economy minister today,
02:45 that the Welsh Government stands ready to support workers in Port Talbot.
02:50 What happens to Port Talbot will have a lasting impact on the town. Whether their plant can
02:54 be saved or whether it means the production will stop will inevitably cost thousands of
02:58 jobs and, according to experts, will decimate the town.
03:01 James P. Watkins, reporting from Wales.
03:03 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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