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£80m pot for Tata workers 'unfunded' - minister

Getty Images A person walks across the road in a residential neighbourhood near to the Tata Steel Port Talbot integrated iron and steel works in south Wales on February 9, 2024. In the dim light of a pub in the steel producing Welsh town of Port TalbotGetty Images
The UK government is spending £80m to help Tata steelworkers affected by lay offs

An £80m transition fund to help the 2,800 Tata steel workers made redundant was "unfunded" by the previous Conservative government, the Welsh secretary has claimed.

Jo Stevens said upon entering government Labour ministers discovered the money announced by the UK government "didn't exist" and "could not be found".

The former Conservative Welsh secretary, David TC Davies, rubbished the claim, accusing Stevens of trying to divert attention.

But officials at the Wales Office have confirmed the transition fund was unfunded.

"I was then able to persuade Treasury to specifically confirm £80m worth of funding and the £20m regeneration scheme for Port Talbot town centre in the Budget," Stevens told BBC Politics Wales on Sunday.

She said she was also able to get £13.5m released over the summer "which meant we could set up those funds to help supply chain business and workers in the supply chain who were affected".

The £80m was confirmed in Labour's October Budget.

The transition fund was first announced in September 2023 by the then Business and Trade secretary, now Conservative party leader, Kemi Badenoch.

She has been asked to respond.

Getty Images Kemi Badenoch leaves the Conservative Party Campaign Headquarters after being announced the winner of Conservative Party leadership contest in LondonGetty Images
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who announced the transition fund in 2023 as the business secretary, has been asked to comment

The total transition funding includes £80m from the UK government and £20m from Tata to co-ordinate support and training opportunities for affected workers.

Community union said: "The revelation that the previous Conservative government had not properly allocated funding for the £80m they promised to the transition board at Port Talbot is shocking."

Community's national officer for steel, Alun Davies, said it "speaks to the previous government's total disregard for the future of the steelworkers and communities impacted by the deal they struck with Tata".

Asked to respond to Jo Stevens' comments, David TC Davies, her predecessor as secretary of state for Wales said: "The transition board was fully funded.

"This is an attempt by the secretary of state to divert attention away from the impact the Budget is going to have on small businesses and farms."

The UK government said: "The new government has been clear it was handed a challenging inheritance, with £22 billion of unfunded in-year spending pressures.

"One of these unfunded commitments was £80m for the Tata Steel Port Talbot Transition Board.

"Following the 30 October Budget, the Transition Board is now fully funded and will continue its work to support workers and businesses affected."

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