The announcement of 1,000 job losses at TATA Steel plants across the country is a devastating blow.

That around 765 of those jobs will be lost at Port Talbot and Llanelli is nothing short of heart-breaking.

For the families affected no words can ease the pain of their situation, but there is a bigger picture here also.

Wales is a country built on the backs of men who have sweated and toiled in heavy industry.

Here is South Wales that has meant coal and steel.

For us to be facing an imminent future without either is simply inconceivable.

For the UK, the nation that led the world and brought about the industrial revolution, such a situation is humiliating.

The lust for cheaper imports, for higher margins and greater returns without thought about the long-term impact of such policies has reduced a leading world power to a small island at the whim of international markets and bigger countries with larger workforces and lower pay.

Wales – and the UK – simply cannot afford to allow that situation to happen.

Yet we are on the brink of it – some might well argue that we have crossed that Rubicon a long time since.

The Wales and UK governments must save our steel industry – saying it is outside their control is simply not acceptable.

Anything less is a betrayal of our past, our present and our future.