CLIMATE activists and workers groups gathered outside the headquarters of Tata Steel in London today in solidarity with steelworkers at Port Talbot in south Wales.

Mass job losses are at risk at the site but campaigners have expressed hope that under a new government, there is an opportunity to renegotiate with the company for a “fairer and greener transition to a better way of making steel that benefits both workers and the environment.”

The coalition of organisations, including Greenpeace UK, Extinction Rebellion, Friends of the Earth, War on Want and the Community trade union, has sent a letter to Labour and Tata Steel to demand a plan for a transition to greener processes that will help retain workers’ skills and preserve steelmaking capability in Britain.

The letter said that “high-grade green steel production is crucial for building a green economy.”

“We need green steel — including primary steel — for building wind turbines, railways, and zero-emission vehicles,” it said.

“Closing down the blast furnaces without replacement will simply offshore our emissions and leave us reliant on importing dirty steel.

“We urgently need a green transition in our manufacturing industries to meet our climate goals.

“But there will be no green transition without proper investment. And there will be no green transition without our workers and their unions.”

On the demonstration, Paul Morozzo of Greenpeace said: “We are out here today to tell Tata Steel and the government that climate justice and worker justice must go hand in hand.

“Tata Steel’s current plan would see thousands of jobs lost and be devastating for communities in south Wales and beyond.

“We have seen from the disastrous closure of coalmines in the 1980s the lasting effect these decisions can have when they don’t have workers and communities at their heart.”