16:50 BST 11 April
Image source, PA MediaAs we’ve just reported in our previous post, Greenpeace campaigner Lily-Rose Ellis says the government “must learn from the mistakes made at Port Talbot”. But what happened?
In September last year, steelworkers drilled the final hole in the last blast furnace in Port Talbot, bringing to an end the traditional method of steelmaking in south Wales.
The controversial move at the UK’s largest steelworks was part of a restructure that cut 2,800 jobs. The job cuts were announced in January last year, with some families having worked at the plant for generations.
Tata Steel UK has consistently said that its blast furnace operations were losing £1m a day, they have committed to replacing the old furnaces with a greener electric arc furnace, but it will not be fully ready until 2028.
Rajesh Nair, Tata Steel’s chief executive, said he was “deeply conscious” of how difficult the closure of the last blast furnace has been.
Adam Beechey, 33, who spent five years working at Tata said at the time: “It’s not nice. When I took this job it was a job for life in my head.”