Wales’s first minister Mark Drakeford has said he was “genuinely baffled” Rishi Sunak did not call him to discuss plans to support people affected by job losses in Port Talbot.
Last week, Tata Steel said it would cut up to 2,800 jobs in the UK.
The majority of those will be in the UK’s largest steelworks in the South Wales town as the company replaces its blast furnaces with electric arc furnaces.
During first minister’s questions on Tuesday, Mr Drakeford told the Senedd he contacted the prime minister’s office last Thursday, when it became clear Tata would announce the closure of both blast furnaces in the town.
The first is expected to shut sometime in the middle of 2024 and the other during the second half of the year.
Tata said the move will cut carbon emissions by about 85% and the UK’s overall CO2 output by about 1.5%.
It also said its plan will reduce costs, but unions have called for Tata and the UK government to reconsider and warned of a “major industrial dispute”.
Tata received £500m of taxpayer cash to support the transition to cheaper, greener steel production.
“I wrote immediately to the prime minister, asking for a telephone call with him on Friday, so that we could jointly discuss how we could best respond to the emerging picture,” Mr Drakeford said.
“And by eight o’clock, 8.30, in the morning on Friday I’d had a reply from the prime minister saying that he couldn’t find time to meet me or talk to me that day and I do think that is genuinely shocking.”
His comments come after the Welsh government’s economy minister, Vaughan Gething, told a news conference on Tuesday that the final whistle had “not been blown” on Tata Steel jobs at Port Talbot.
The steel giant has said 2,500 jobs could go in the next 18 months, while a further 300 might be axed in three years’ time.
Statutory consultation on the cuts is yet to begin, and a date for that has not been fixed.
The Tata Steel workforce currently accounts…
