Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:32 pm on 7 December 2016.
Diolch yn fawr, Lywydd. I intend to give Jane Bryant two minutes, Llywydd, and Mohammad Asghar a minute to speak in this debate, following their requests. I’m very pleased to have the opportunity of this short debate, which I hope to use to highlight the ways that well-thought-through regeneration plans can help reinvigorate a city like Newport and give the city, and indeed its wider region, the thriving future we need. Newport, of course, was a docks town and a centre of industry, particularly for steel, for many years. Steel, of course, is still very important as an industry in Newport, and the challenge ahead is to maintain and grow our existing strengths such as steel, while also developing new jobs and growth that will make the city thrive again in the twenty-first century, as it has in the past.