Reaction to news of planned closure of Tata Steel's Orb plant in Newport

The steelmaker had been attempting to sell five of its European operations, but had been unable to find a buyer for three, including Orb Electrical Steels in Newport.

Tata Steel Ltd itself, tweeted out a message of sympathy following the news which broke yesterday. The tweet read: "Today’s proposal will be sad news for colleagues at Orb in South Wales. This is necessary, enabling us to focus our resources, including investment, on our core business and markets, helping us build a long-term sustainable future in Europe.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Twitter:

The closure of Tata Steel’s Newport plant means hundreds of job losses in our steel industry.

The Tories' reckless No Deal policy is hammering manufacturing.

The government must work with steel unions and industry to implement an emergency strategy for the sector.

— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) September 2, 2019

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Meanwhile, the UK and Ireland’s largest trade union, Unite, said it would fight for every job and demanded that there would be no compulsory redundancies from Tata Steel after the steel maker announced the closure of the Newport site.

Warning of another ‘body blow’ to the Wales economy, Unite said it "would be holding Tata Steel’s feet to the fire over assurances that it would redeploy workers which makes components for the electrical sectors".

Unite officer for Tata Steel Tony Brady said in a statement: “The closure of the Orb electrical steel base in Newport is yet another body blow for the economy of Wales.

“Unite will be fighting for every job and holding Tata Steel’s feet to the fire over assurances that workers affected by today’s announcement will be redeployed.

“Unite will not sit back and allow decent well-paid jobs and irreplaceable skills to go to the wall. In the coming days we will be engaging with Tata Steel and pressing for detailed guarantees.”

Representatives from another of the trade unions, Community Union, also spoke in damning terms about the planned closure.

General Secretary of Community Union, Roy Rickhuss, said: “This is shocking news, which makes a mockery of the understanding we reached with Tata around the jobs guarantee.”

Assistant General Secretary, John Paul Mchugh, said:

The whole of the UK need to join with ⁦@CommunityUnion⁩ and hold ⁦@TataSteelLtd⁩ to account-together we need to secure a future for UK electric steels - this is the future of our economy, we need to retain the capacity to be part of the future https://t.co/7EJuQFVWWF

— John Paul McHugh (@JohnPaulMcH) September 2, 2019

Two AMs from opposite ends of the country also took to social media.

Delyth Jewell, AM for South Wales East, said:

"Welsh Government needs to do all it can to save these jobs and consider taking the plant into public ownership, as the specialist products the plant produces could play an important role in the development of the strategically vital renewables sector in Wales." @DelythJewellAM pic.twitter.com/cmIdQgtHI2

— Plaid Cymru (@Plaid_Cymru) September 2, 2019

Rhun ap lorwerth, AM for Ynys Mon, said:

"Plaid Cymru is asking Welsh and UK Governments to investigate all possible interventions to stop the Orb plant from closing – from joint investment to even taking it into public ownership, such is the importance of keeping this specialist capability." @RhunapIorwerth pic.twitter.com/2gXTpy7oCT

— Plaid Cymru (@Plaid_Cymru) September 2, 2019

Plaid Cymru's official Twitter feed simply stated:

“I’ve called for a major summit on Wales’s economic future." @RhunapIorwerth

"Welsh Government needs to do all it can to try to save these jobs" @DelythJewellAM

Plaid Cymru stands with the steelworkers at Orb Electrical Steels in Newport.https://t.co/S4x1KJchsL pic.twitter.com/VbiqvcyvCX

— Plaid Cymru (@Plaid_Cymru) September 2, 2019