Adam Price: 6. Will the First Minister state what plans he has to discuss the package of proposals Tata Steel has presented to the workforce with its interim chair, Ratan Tata? OAQ(5)0370(FM)
Adam Price: In his meeting with Bimlendra Jha, was he able to outline the nature of the concerns that we’ve expressed in my party, but are also widely shared among the workforce, about the highly uncertain nature of the commitments on investment and employment, and also the potential consequences of the proposal to de-link the British Steel pension scheme and Tata effectively creating an orphan fund?...
Adam Price: I thank the Llywydd and the Cabinet Secretary for his statement this afternoon, and I would also like to thank the Chair of the Finance Committee for the opportunity to see the transcript of the recent meeting that they held. There is a great deal to be welcomed in this new framework, but in the time available to me, I want to focus on three specific issues, namely: the operation of the...
Adam Price: Finally, may I ask the Cabinet Secretary to tell us a little more about the process of dealing with any dispute? I welcome the fact that there will be a role for an independent council through a new independent body on the Welsh side. But, having read the document, it appears to me that, despite the fact that there will be independent evidence available, it will be up to the two Governments...
Adam Price: No Bill is perfect, but what is his view of the almost unique imperfection that the former Lord Chief Justice pointed out—that there is in this Bill the ability for a Minister in Westminster to strike down through ministerial diktat, effectively, primary legislation passed here? That’s not just an insult to devolution—it’s an insult to democracy itself.
Adam Price: Diolch, Lywydd. I rise to speak for steel once again in this Chamber—for steelworkers, for steel pensioners, for steel communities, for a sector that is the very foundational core of our economy. There are those who perhaps would prefer it if I were silent, but I’ve been told to shut up by Labour councillors ever since I was a boy in the miners welfare hall in Ammanford. And I didn’t...
Adam Price: I would particularly like to thank those steelworkers, past and present, who have reached out to us to thank us for saying, on the record, what many of them privately feel. The question I think that is at the forefront of our minds at the moment in relation to Tata’s proposals is twofold: one, does it provide a sustainable, viable future for the steel industry in Wales going forward? And...
Adam Price: Well, it’s operating profit. You could regard it as—. I mean, it doesn’t actually have a formal definition in that sense. But the point is, if that really is a hard contingency—that this investment plan is completely reliant upon that level of continual operating profit, in a context in which we know—. This is one of the most cyclical industries of all—. Let’s remember we’ve...
Adam Price: Would the Member give way?
Adam Price: Seeing as you’re attacking me, would you give way?
Adam Price: Does he accept that there is a distinction here? Because, of course, Tata has a parent company and, uniquely in English and Welsh law, there is unlimited liability under the Pensions Act 2014. The pension regulator can actually go after Tata’s assets, whether they’re in Europe, India, or wherever across the world.
Adam Price: Will the Member give way?
Adam Price: I’m grateful. We heard in the earlier debate, didn’t we, the importance of the social partnership model, which is tripartite—company, unions and Government. Surely, in the context of the steel industry, there is an absolutely central role for Government and, I agree, for Governments—plural; both Welsh and UK.
Adam Price: It’s just a point of information, really. When he says that this is the only deal on the table, he’s aware, obviously, of the Excalibur bid, which, actually, the Welsh Government have funded—
Adam Price: Is he saying that that is no longer a live bid?
Adam Price: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. It has been, I think, a valuable debate. I know that steelworkers who have contacted us will have appreciated hearing the range of views, of opinions, in relation to the package of proposals that will shortly be put before them. I thought it was very, very indicative that the backbench Members who spoke who have steel plants in their constituency all...
Adam Price: [Continues.]—wanted to offer more money into the pension fund. [Interruption.]
Adam Price: There is an alternative for Tata as well. They could strengthen the deal. Ratan Tata came out of retirement because he was appalled by the kind of slash and burn short-termism that Cyrus Mistry had injected into the company. His new leadership represents a return to Tata’s traditional values of fairness and long-termism, and I think now we should appeal to the interim, emeritus chair of...
Adam Price: Thank you, Llywydd. I agree with the vast majority of what the Member for Monmouthshire has said. We share the disappointment, of course, that the Government, in the first instance, hadn’t seen fit to bring its own recommendations for reforming the system in its entirety to decrease the significant burden on businesses in Wales. Certainly, there is evidence that shows, from different...
Adam Price: Yes, and certainly that would be something that we would all want to avoid, truth be told, because as we always say—we say it all the time because it’s true—small businesses are the backbone of our economy throughout Wales. It’s certainly true in the rural areas, which have suffered the most as a result of this revaluation. So, I do hope that the Cabinet Secretary will be able to tell...
