PoliticsLabour’s reindustrialisation plans face a test in its Welsh heartlands

Port Talbot, home to the UK’s largest steelworks, highlights Labour’s struggle to reconnect with working-class voters in South Wales. The town lost 2,000 jobs in 2024 after Tata Steel closed its coal-fired blast furnaces, while replacement electric furnaces have been delayed until 2028 or 2029. Labour came third in May’s Welsh parliamentary elections, behind Plaid Cymru and Reform UK. First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth has urged Westminster to consider nationalising the steelworks.