Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:14 pm on 17 January 2017.
What we do know from Tata is they are committed to at least the next five years to Port Talbot if there is agreement on the pension scheme. We know that they’ll be committed in that time to two blast furnaces. The money that we have made available potentially for Tata is conditional; we want to see certain guarantees put in place if that money is going to be released, as Members would expect us to. But I think it’s also fair to say that difficult though the decision is for the workers there, there is nothing else on the table. The choice is accepting what’s there, difficult though it might be, or we’re back to square 1, effectively: great uncertainty. It’s a difficult choice, I accept that, but that is the choice that workers face. Nevertheless, we’ve come a long way from where we were in March when the situation was grim indeed, I have to say. If you’d asked me then whether the heavy end of Port Talbot would remain, I think the answer would probably have been ‘no’; it was unlikely. Because of the hard work that’s been put in by Welsh Government officials; the hard work that’s been put in by representatives such as David Rees; and because of the hard work put in by our officials, the money has been put on the table and we are in a position, now, where Tata are able to offer an opportunity to Welsh workers that workers must now consider.