Action on steel

By -
Published in Llanelli Star on 13th June 2016


The decision of Tata steel to ‘pause’ its search for a new buyer for the Trostre works and its other plants is a worry.

To keep Port Talbot and the other plants running for more than a year or so will require a company with deep pockets - and the willingness to dip into them.

When I met the Chief Executive of Tata in the UK a few weeks ago he told me that he was not convinced that any of the bidders who had come forward had the ability to keep the plants open for more than a few years.  

Tata proudly see themselves as responsible owners (and to be fair they put essential investment into Trostre) and they want to make their sure they are seen as responsible sellers.  They don’t want to be seen in the same way as Sir Phillip Green who cut and run after selling BHS.

Tata clearly didn’t think any of the bidders were serious, and with companies finding it harder to find investment in the aftermath of the EU referendum they’ve decided to put a stop to the sale process..

But some sceptics think Tata had no intention of selling to a company that would be their rival in any event. The fear is that the announcement that they will instead explore a merger with the German steel-maker ThyssenKrupp will allow them to wind-down Port Talbot over the next couple of years as they intended all along.

A tie-up with ThyssenKrupp could lead to a consolidation of steel production at Tata’s Dutch plant at Ijmuiden, and once that is secure Port Talbot could be closed to take out excess production capacity from the system.

For some reason the Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns has welcomed this merger.

We need to look carefully to see if there’s anything that can be done to secure the future of the Welsh plants.

The Welsh Government has put money on the table with a clear offer of help. The UK Government have yet to make a concrete offer of support and they must now stop talking and start delivering

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2023 - 5 big changes in transport in Wales

By -
Image
Changing direction takes you to a different destination... We ask our transport system to do a lot of things, but we’ve not asked it to make its contribution to our shared challenge of reducing carbon emissions. Indeed, transport is the sector that has contributed the least to the legal duty to cut emissions. Unless that changes we will not meet our overall NetZero imperative . It is difficult for any incoming Transport Minister to change much in the short-term - road and rail projects take upwards of seven years to implement, and the ongoing pipeline of schemes means that significant spending has already been committed and political expectations raised by the time a new Minister takes office. Though the political spotlight is inevitably on short-term problems, significant change is a longer term project. Over and above the day-to-day activity of keeping a transport system on track I have tried to focus on how to ‘change the wiring’ to secure medium to long-term change. For all its ch
Read more

Transport for Wales 2.0

By -
Image
Speech to Transport for Wales senior management at Llys Cadwyn, TfW HQ, in Pontypridd on 6th February 2024 Diolch am y croeso a y cyfle. James Price and I meet regularly, and sometimes it feels like we’re in charge. But it really is a privilege to be in the same room as the people who actually do run transport in Wales. And it’s so nice to see people together. I’m still adjusting to meeting people in the flesh who I’m used to seeing online; I still can’t believe how short everyone is when I meet them! Apart from the ones I already knew were short, obviously (you know who you are). The worst thing about those mass Teams calls is that I can’t see people’s reactions to what I’m saying – to confirm that they are drifting off.  So at least I’ll know for sure today that I am boring you – the people in the room at least. It won’t stop me, but it gets rid of the uncertainty. I know we’ve priced-in that politicians' speeches will be insincere, but I really do mean what I say. And I
Read more

How much is a life worth?

By -
Image
  So what will the cost to the economy be of a safer speed limit in residential areas?   The headline figure that has been estimated is 4.5 Billion.  It is an arresting figure, but it isn’t really what it seems.  As part of the  Explanatory Memorandum  we have to publish we have to produce an estimate of costs and benefits. And we have to use the approach set out in the  UK Treasury’s Green Book  for evaluating schemes.   And we have to try and put a financial value to this, but of course there are some things you cannot measure: the grief to a family of a child killed on their street; the social value of meeting neighbors in the street and chatting, the absence of stress from engine noise that is louder in a street with a 30mph limit.  Those things and more aren’t captured by the Treasury Green Book.  It measures what it can, and it tries to put a monetary value next to it. And as the Explanatory Memorandum makes clear there is a lot of uncertainty about these figures. 
Read more