Port Talbot steelworkers and their families affected by the closure of furnaces will be entitled to grants of up to £10,000 to start businesses, the Welsh secretary will announce on Saturday.
As Labour holds its annual Welsh conference in Llandudno, Jo Stevens will say the government is funding £80m to help 2,800 Tata steelworkers and local businesses.
She will tell the conference that Wales has a “powerful voice at the cabinet table once again” after being neglected under the previous government.
Keir Starmer will also address the conference on Saturday in his first Welsh conference as prime minister, after Labour won 27 out of 32 seats in Wales in July, with no Tory MPs now left in Wales.
Despite Labour’s new dominance in Wales, the party is worried that Reform is also targeting the nation, with Nigel Farage visiting after Donald Trump’s victory in the US and polls suggesting his party could do well at the Senedd election.
In his speech, Starmer will argue that “change must be nothing less than national renewal” but must be felt “in the bones of a nation”.
“Change can’t be a few extra lines on a graph moving in the right direction,” he will say. “Change can’t be a good Labour policy or two delivered while the broader settlement remains untouched. Change must be nothing less than national renewal.”
At the conference, Starmer will also confirm that a £160m investment zone in Wrexham and Flintshire will be going ahead next year.
In her conference speech, Stevens will acknowledge that rhetoric around “industry and economic growth can sometimes sound remote from day to day life”, but she will insist that the future of Wales’s economy lies in more jobs and investment in every community, alongside opportunities for young people.
The fund for affected families in Port Talbot will come alongside a business growth fund to support firms that are already in operation but are seeking to increase their role in the local economy. Firms could receive between £25,000 and £250,000, depending on their individual needs.
The steel town in south Wales has been hit by devastating job losses and the regional economy is at risk as a result of the closures. The closure of blast furnace 5 in July cut at least 2,000 jobs, with thousands more jobs lost in the community, which is reliant on the steelworks.
Additionally, the government has launched a business resilience fund to provide targeted assistance to local businesses that were affected by the continuing green transition at Tata Steel, to help them diversify into new markets, create new jobs and find opportunities in growing sectors including low-carbon energy. Firms will be able to secure grants from £2,500 to £25,000.
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This newly allocated funding comes from £80m in Rachel Reeves’s first budget that was allocated to fully fund the transition board and support Welsh workers.
Stevens will say Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader and former business secretary, had promised an £80m transition fund without funding it.
Stevens will say: “Kemi Badenoch sold a lie to steel communities and told them to consider it a win. Well, conference, I’m not buying it. I made it my mission to fight tooth and nail for that money. And Labour’s first budget confirmed that £80m in full. Because Wales has a powerful voice at the cabinet table once again.
“To the cafe owner in the town centre who is worried about footfall. To the steelworker with a dream of being their own boss. To the business looking to grow or change. This fund is for you. This is change in action.”
Labour insiders believe this new funding allocation will put a safety net around workers and businesses immediately, and essentially provides evidence that Labour’s growth and clean energy missions are still in action as they are also laying the groundwork to deliver floating offshore wind.
