WELSH communists called for Tata Steel to be brought into public ownership at the weekend and condemned plans that will lead to at least 2,800 job losses.

The Communist Party in Wales condemned the Indian-owned company’s plans to shut the two blast furnaces at the Port Talbot steelworks as “a betrayal of Welsh workers and the Welsh economy.”

Welsh Party secretary David Morgan said: “The British government's surrender to Tata Steel’s threat to close the plant entirely is a criminal waste of £580 million of public money.”

Concerns have also been raised about the future job prospects of older workers set to be affected by the shutdown of the two blast furnaces at the steelworks.

The Centre for Ageing Better said older workers are much more likely to face long-term redundancy, and even enforced retirement, amid such heavy job losses.

Tata Steel’s decision to close the two existing blast furnaces and move to a greener electric-arc furnace will lead to the loss of up to 2,800 jobs  — and more in firms which supply the plant with goods and services.

“Tata and the Tory government are treating the concerns and proposals of the workforce and their unions with contempt, while Britain imports steel from the European Union and China at great cost to the environment,” Mr Morgan said.

The Welsh Communist Party also supported the trade union plan for a transition period to maintain at least one blast furnace while new steel-making capacity is developed.

“The large-scale public subsidy demanded by Tata should go hand-in-hand with a large-scale public shareholding — if not wholesale nationalisation — of such a strategic industry,” Mr Morgan said.