‘We have been profoundly let down’: Voters in one of Labour’s safest seats consider switching sides

youUntil recently Thursday lunch was a manic time for Steven Lightbrown, as queues formed out the door for fish and chips, pies and pies.

But since the closure of steelworks in Port Talbot in September 2024, the takeaway business his father founded in the Taibach industrial estate 40 years ago has suffered a “huge blow” and has lost almost half its trade.

Locals remain loyal customers, but the decline in trade has forced Mr Lightbrown to reduce his hours at Steve’s Fish Bar to four days a week.

“Businesses have been hit hard due to people not showing up,” he says Independent. “My morale has been affected, my main occupation was steelworkers. Many workers have now left the area, some going to Hinkley Point and others to Trostre Steelworks.”

It’s been 20 months since Tata Steel closed blast furnaces in the south Wales industrial town, with 2,000 workers made redundant after the company said the plant was costing them £1 million a day. A new £1.25bn electric arc furnace is currently being built and is due to open in 2028, but only 350 people currently work at the expanded facility.

This is a far cry from the 20,000 people who worked there in its heyday in the 1970s; A series of layoffs in 2014 and 2016 brought a decade of uncertainty to the town.

Nigel Hunt was among those who lost his job 10 years ago and had to quickly rethink how he would provide for his family.

“A lot of people were really disappointed in September 2024 that our work culture as a town was really taken away from us,” he said. “We felt the steelworks had been handed over by those in Westminster, and when a similar threat arose in the north of England we miraculously found the money to keep steel production there.

“We’re an essential industry, which means we supply car factories, Airbus and every white goods factory in the UK. There’s no long-term industrial strategy in the UK; it’s a shambles. I think people are deeply disappointed and we’ll see that at the election.”

Steelmaking has its roots in Port Talbot since the 1850s and has been the lifeblood of the town for generations, dominating the skyline from every angle.

Like Steel, Labor has a long-standing relationship with Port Talbot, which has been a red stronghold for more than a century. Aberavon (the constituency now known as Aberafan Maesteg and in which Port Talbot is located) was held by Labour’s first prime minister, Ramsay MacDonald, and has been one of the party’s most stable seats for decades. In fact, as recently as the 2017 election Aberavon was the safest Labor seat in Wales.

But as the tide turns against Sir Keir Starmer, May’s Welsh elections are turning divisive. Nigel Farage visited the region in June and promised that Reform UK would open new blast furnaces and allow coal to be mined for use in steelworks.

Plaid Cymru is also vying for power, with leader Rhun ap Iorweth promising to “breath new life” into areas affected by industrial decline. Welsh nationalists have previously called for nationalization and the introduction of clean, hydrogen-based steel production.

The sense of betrayal by Labor is evident among residents as Welsh first minister Eluned Morgan’s party loses its grip on the local council in 2022.

“There will be change, but I don’t know how drastic it will be,” Mr Hunt said. “This was their safest place and they surrendered the steel mill. This will never go away. Some people will never forgive them for it.”

“What’s going to be interesting about the Senedd elections is, are they going to go English nationalist or Welsh nationalist? A lot of people see Reform as the English nationalist party, they’ve got huge resources and some people are going towards them. “While I understand that, I find it really hard to digest. They’re sounding off information, people don’t really look beyond it.

“I find it particularly difficult because there are the Valleys areas that were decimated by the Conservatives in the mid-1980s. In fact, Reformation has the same political bent, so for Valleys people it’s almost like turkeys voting for Christmas. For me, I see the Welsh election as quite a puzzle, an enigma. What’s interesting is the battle between Reform and Plaid Cymru: one who believes in Wales, the other who doesn’t, I really believe that.”

While a spokesman for Reform UK said removing the Senedd would not feature in the Welsh manifesto, the party’s stance on devolution remains complex. “We do not want to close down the debate,” the warning read in September.

But for many residents, they are left wondering how to continue their history as one of Britain’s industrial heavyweights and provide jobs for future generations.

A July 2025 survey by Public Health Wales found 44 per cent knew someone affected by the changes at the steelworks, 83 per cent were concerned it would affect people’s mental health and 89 per cent feared employment opportunities.

Mr Hunt said: “There is a real opportunity for Welsh people to change from the Labor government that has been here for years and is now stale.

“They accept things as they are, there is a lot of comfort. All the safe seats have been transferred. The way we fought for the steel mills and tried to save the works was very poor.

“We haven’t really discussed what this means for Britain and manufacturing.”

On a positive note, more than three-quarters of residents in the latest survey said they thought the closures would have a positive impact on air quality in the area, after decades of smoke from smokestacks hovering over the town, collecting dust on cars and window sills.

Although steel is still produced in factories, the process now relies on imported steel plates that are milled on site.

Driving along the five-lane entrance road to the industrial area is relatively quiet with few trucks on the road, while the sea off the Aberavon coast is no longer dotted with ships entering the harbour. The high street is also quiet with many empty shop windows, but the mood among locals remains positive.

“I think the community really helps each other out, it’s one of those places, everyone gathers to support each other,” local resident Daniel Nettle said. “I don’t think it gets the attention it deserves. We have the largest steel industry in Europe and that has been thrown aside. Our biggest concern is what will happen to Port Talbot, what will happen to the jobs and the money that is no longer here.”

But where industry failed, art flourished. Port Talbot is home to a thriving street art scene, with the annual In It Together festival attracting thousands each summer, and local theaters and venues hosting an underground Welsh music scene.

Mr Hunt, a former steelworker, turned to fashion after losing his job and set up his own clothing brand, San Portablo, known for celebrating local culture in South Wales.

Emma Wellington, director of a local modeling agency that encourages young people to take up the arts, said: “I would say Port Talbot are patriotic. They’re very proud of their town and their beaches.”

“I’d say it’s always been there, but since the steelworks closed there’s been greater pressure. People loved them, it’s part of history; everyone wants Port Talbot to succeed.”