“Ludicrous, condescending, half-baked, opportunistic and plain stupid”
Nigel Farage visited Port Talbot last Monday(Image: Getty Images)
A columnist for The Guardian has attacked Nigel Farage’s plans for Wales following his recent visit to Port Talbot. Writer John Harris explained how the leader is able to “exploit the rules of engagement in our digital age”.
Last week, Nigel Farage told a press conference that Reform would allow more coal mining and reopen the Port Talbot steelworks if his party were to take power in the Senedd elections next year.
However he later admitted that it would be “impossible” to reopen the structures which now contain tonnes of solidified molten iron, without it costing billions.
Opposition parties criticised his speech, labelling his promises as “empty” and “absolute nonsense”. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here.
First Minister Eluned Morgan said she wasn’t sure “if people in Wales want to see their grandchildren going back down the pits”.
The Guardian columnist called the speech “ludicrous, condescending, half-baked, opportunistic and plain stupid”, saying the Reform leader didn’t even seem to know what he wanted and failed to mention the environment or properly consider the dangers of what he was suggesting.
Harris continued: “The whole thing was – of course – politics on the level of pub bullshit, but Farage and his people presumably knew that.
“What mattered was the resulting spectacle: Britain’s foremost populist proposing to “reindustrialise” Wales, in the face of entirely reasonable doubts, mockery and outright opposition from voices easily maligned as the usual distant elites.”
Ahead of his speech last week, Nigel Farage told WalesOnline: “Labour closed Wales’ only primary steel making furnaces, we want to open them in the long run. We have said and say again that we think it’s better to use British coal for British steel than imported coal.
“Which is why we would allow coal, if suitable, to be mined in Wales as part of Reform’s long-term ambition to reopen the Port Talbot Steelworks but we know this will not be quick or easy.”
You can read the full column here.