Nigel Farage accused of 'selling fairy dust' over unfunded steelworks plan
Nigel Farage has been accused of "selling fairy dust" after saying he wants to reopen Port Talbot's blast furnaces without a plan to pay for it.
The Reform leader announced his desire with a wave of fanfare - but was unable to say how he would achieve it. Mr Farage admitted he would need the help of central government and private businesses, and conceded it would cost billions of pounds.
During a press conference in Wales he was confronted with claims the furnaces are "beyond recovery", with the cost of building a brand new steelworks costing around £3billion Floundering Mr Farage said: "Nothing is impossible, but it might be difficult, it might be easier to build a new one."
He said it was an "ambition" to reopen the blast furnaces, which closed last year as operator Tata moves to a greener electric arc. The Indian-based company said it was losing £1million a day in Port Talbot.
The Reform leader has set his sights on winning control of the Welsh Parliament, the Senedd. Following his press conference, a spokesman for the Community Union said: 'We will always support credible policies that create more well-paid jobs in the steel sector, but our steel communities deserve better than to be used as a political football. If Reform have serious plans for the future of our steel sector in Wales, they should set them out in full.'
And Labour MP Stephen Kinnock, whose Aberafan Maesteg constituency includes Port Talbot, said Mr Farage was pitching "an operation that no one with any proper knowledge of steelmaking thinks is credible". Mr Kinnock went on: "Farage is a dyed-in-the-wool Thatcherite cosplaying as a socialist. It has been a really challenging time for our community. Politicians should focus on what we can achieve through Labour's £2.5bn Steel Fund - not insulting our intelligence by selling snake oil & fairy dust."
A Labour Party spokesman said: ' Nigel Farage is all talk, no plan, and would risk chaos, cuts and decline for Britain.
'He admitted today that it is a 'massive expensive job to reopen blast furnaces' costing 'in the low billions', without offering any explanation for how he would pay for it. Reform UK is just not serious."
At his press conference Mr Farage acknowledged it would cost "in the low billions" to repopen the blast furnances, and said "private business partners" would have to be brought in.
"Reopening a blast furnace is not an easy thing," he admitted.
Darren Millar, leader of the Welsh Conservatives' Senedd group, said: "Nigel Farage's empty and uncosted promises are nothing more than a mirage. The people of Port Talbot won't be taken for fools."
And Heledd Fychan, of Plaid Cymru, said: "Today, Reform have shown us what they offer Wales, empty headlines and nonsensical policies. Farage has parachuted himself into a community recently devastated by UK government inaction, and is taking advantage of the loss by claiming to reopen the blast furnaces, something the industry have already told us is impossible."
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