You’re not going to find me defending Tata in this position, and I have no idea what arrangements Tata have put in place to deal with the eventuality of losing this vote. But they’re not daft and they are very clear in their view that, if they lose this vote, they will go. And then what do we do? This is why I think it is irresponsible to be urging the voters, to be playing on this understandable anger, urging them to vote ‘no’, because then where are we? The point that Adam Price made about the motivations behind this and the liabilities on the pension fund and the competition from the Dutch plant was a very persuasive argument, but the hard-headed fact remains that this is the deal we’ve got on the table—this is the best deal the trade unions could negotiate and it’s the only deal that Tata were willing to agree to, despite the pressure and the incentives offered by the Welsh Government. If it wasn’t for the £4 million investment on the table from the Welsh Government, there wouldn’t be a deal in the first place. And that £4 million comes with strings. We’ve done all that we can to pull it back from the brink and now the workforce must choose. But I do urge caution for those in this Chamber who are calling on the workers to reject it, because they will bear a heavy responsibility if the plants go under.

Our only real power—this is where we do have a choice—is to avoid being in this position again. We need to lessen our dependence on large, foreign-owned multinationals. We need to embrace innovation and confront the fourth industrial revolution. It’s a sobering fact that the 7,000 jobs at stake in Tata pale into insignificance compared to the 700,000 jobs in Wales that are under threat from automation. That’s what we should be confronting here: looking ahead to get out of this short-term crisis and start planning for a future where we embrace the foundational economy and innovation. I hope that Tata workers vote to accept the package, not because I think it’s a watertight deal—I don’t—but because, until we craft a radical new economic strategy that’ll benefit workers across Wales, it’s the only deal we’ve got.