Part of 2. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure – in the Senedd at 1:45 pm on 25 January 2017.
I gave the Cabinet Secretary the opportunity there to support his own members—members of his own party—who are simply doing their job, actually, and I actually support them in what they’ve said. We’ve said the same—this deal is not good enough, and, really, he should be using his position and that of the Welsh Government to actually get a revised proposal. Now, earlier this week, the UK Government published its own industrial strategy, the Green Paper. Was he as surprised as me to see that steel only had a single passing reference in a 132-page document?
To be fair, there were some areas that present opportunities for Wales, so will he be proposing steel as one of the areas for a sector deal? Will the Welsh Government take up the offer of a joint ministerial forum on industrial strategy? Does he welcome the commitment to move cultural institutions and Government bodies, including research bodies, outside of London to support economic development? Does he welcome the long-overdue commitment by the UK Government to take into account the current regional imbalance in investment in infrastructure in making future investment decisions?