South Wales ‘heading for Thatcher-era shock’ as Port Talbot closures loom

Tata’s decision to close both blast furnaces at Port Talbot steelworks will cost up to 2,800 jobs. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

South Wales is heading for an economic shock on the same scale as Thatcher-era deindustrialisation as Tata prepares to close the blast furnaces at its Port Talbot steelworks, a shadow cabinet minister has warned.

Jo Stevens, the shadow Wales secretary, said the fallout from the company’s decision to close the blast furnaces would be felt for decades as it was in the 1980s, as she pushed ministers to do more to help workers facing redundancy.