Yesterday I raised the situation at Orb with the Prime Minister during his statement on the recent G7 Summit.

Speaking in the chamber, I asked “Did the Prime Minister have the opportunity at the G7 to raise issues in the steel industry? I ask this on behalf of the 380 employees at Cogent Orb in Newport who yesterday received the devastating news that Tata are to close their plant. It’s tragic for them, and tragic as this is the only plant in the UK to produce electrical steel which with Government encouragement have been part of a supply chain for electric vehicles?”

In response, the Prime Minister said that ‘a huge amount of work was going on with Tata investments’ and praised the current and previous Business Secretaries for working on deals at British Steel in Scunthorpe.

In his response to my question the Prime Minister failed to mention the steelworkers at Orb who are set to lose their jobs, or the knock-on effect on their families and the wider community in Newport.

I will be following this up. This country needs a robust industrial strategy with steel at its heart. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be utilising the potential of specialist plants like Orb to supply the materials needed to make the motors of electric cars.