UNIONS must recognise the “failure of environmental policy” that led to the 2,500 job losses confirmed at the Port Talbot steelworks, GMB general secretary Andy Smith told TUC Congress today.

He urged unions to have the “the courage to talk about this” or the far right “will take up the cudgels,” as delegates sent solidarity to the south Wales workers as they passed a climate change motion.

Mr Smith said GMB would abstain “to find a space and a time for reflection for an honest and sober debate about these complex issues.”