Tata cuts will destroy a community for the sake of net-zero posturing
SIR – The closure of the blast furnaces at Port Talbot (report, January 20) is being hailed as a victory for net zero.
It is nothing of the kind. Production will continue in India and China, so we will instead import steel – at huge expense and cost to the planet – from countries using the same “polluting” blast furnaces.
Meanwhile, UK jobs will be lost and communities decimated. Who would vote for that? Tim Hadland
Duston, Northamptonshire
SIR – I am outraged that the Government is once again going in the wrong direction. How can we stand by and let the United Kingdom become the only G20 country unable to produce steel from raw materials, when it is one of the most fundamental industries a country can have? British Steel does not and will not have this capacity with electric arc furnaces. We are not in the EU, so could subsidise or even agree to take equity in the company in return. Other countries subsidise their steel production, as they recognise how important it is to their nation, so why not us?
Using green or net-zero arguments is to ignore the very small contribution the UK makes to world pollution, and how damaging the closure of Port Talbot would be on a global scale, not to mention the devastating effect on nearly 3,000 workers.
Yet again, government inaction and ineptness prove that the Conservative Party is bereft of initiatives or common sense, and wholly undeserving of its dwindling membership.
It is time to put this country first and support our steel production. We should also utilise our own reserves of oil and gas energy rather than paying to outsource then import it, just so that we can pretend the UK is leading the world all to achieve a net-zero target date that was foolishly made law. Charles Taverner
Moreton-in-marsh, Gloucestershire
SIR – I am amazed that the Government is enabling (indeed part-funding) the replacement of blast furnaces in Port Talbot with electric arc furnaces.
Can a government minister please explain exactly how a blast furnace is replaced by such a device? Why are we funding the degradation of essential industries?
I should perhaps add that I studied metallurgy. Obfuscation will not do. Anthony Cutler
Great Malvern, Worcestershire
SIR – Has the time come for an immediate decision to be taken to build one of the smaller Rolls-royce nuclear power stations at a suitable site near Port Talbot?
It would provide power for the proposed new electric arc furnaces, considerable employment in both the construction and running of the power station, and would also save the cost of supplying power from elsewhere. Colin Sear
Thame, Oxfordshire