UK PM Andy Burnham's reindustrialisation plans face test in Labour's Welsh heartlands

For a hundred years Port Talbot voted Labour. This town in South Wales, home to the UK's largest steelworks, is working class to its bones. But in May, Labour was crushed in Welsh parliamentary elections, coming third behind the victorious nationalist Plaid Cymru and Reform UK. The shock helps bring down Keir Starmer and bring in Andy Burnham. There's so many issues in the UK at the moment but everyone seemed to be talking about immigration i think their stance on that wasn't strong enough and the communication with Keir Starmer I just don't think he was strong enough Labour used to be a party for the working class they used to help you know the working class people had their backs but now it's totally changed political sands may have shifted here but as Andy Burnham reaches three months in power some here say they could shift back do you think Andy Burnham can turn it around? Oh yeah, definitely. Anybody that's genuine Labour will in the end go back to Labour. And that I can't believe after things that reformers see. And I do believe Andy Burnham can get there because I think he has the interest of the working class people. Burnham has pledged re-industrialisation. He came to Port Talbot in August for his first official visit to Wales. But the town is still hurting from the loss of 2,000 jobs in 2024 when the Indian owners Tata shut down the steelworks coal-fired blast furnaces for replacement. No steel has been made here since then and the timeline for when the new electric furnaces will be ready keeps being pushed back now into 2028 or 2029 and Tata wants the British government to put in more public money. And the Welsh government now led by Plaid Cymru's Rhunap Iorwerth is pressing Westminster hard. The UK government failed to see the consequences of its inaction on Port Talbot. We were saying look at nationalising it if that's what needs to happen in order to keep virgin steel making not just for Wales but as a strategic industry for the future of the UK. Some working class voters in Wales seem open to giving Andy Burnham's Labour another chance. But Port Talbot shows that re-industrialisation is limited less by political will than by infrastructure, money and time. Rory Challans, Out of Zero, Wales.