Reform on steel industry and Port Talbot: comment

“In the same way as households have since Russia invaded Ukraine, the UK’s steel industry is being hit by ongoing high gas prices, which in the UK largely set the electricity price too. Our steel industry began declining in the 1970s with jobs in the industry falling ten-fold between 1971 and 2014 [1], and more recent policy costs have now largely been removed from industrial energy prices.

“UK Steel has said that ‘the main driver’ of disparities in electricity prices between the UK and Europe ‘is now wholesale electricity costs, driven by the UK’s reliance on natural gas power generation’. [2] The blast furnaces in Port Talbot were shut down last year, and can’t simply be re-started once they have been closed – it would be hugely expensive too. More coal from Wales won’t affect that.

"The net zero economy in Wales contributed £3bn last year and in the UK as a it grew by 10%, three times more than the rest of the economy [3]."