Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:56 pm on 8 February 2017.
Diolch, Presiding Officer. I’m very pleased to be able to wind up on this debate, and I’d like to thank Russell for opening it the way he did, because I think, Russell George, you painted a very broad canvas of the economic needs of the country. You rightly pointed out the growth of the Northern Powerhouse and the opportunities for north Wales and the north Wales growth deal. However, despite you doing that, we’ve said that we can’t support the Plaid Cymru amendment because although, technically, everything you say in your amendment is absolutely right, you only concentrated on north Wales. Steffan Lewis, in your contribution, much of which I did agree with, you talked about poor economic paradigms, you talked about the trickle-down effect not working, but above all, you actually talked about not raising or not leaving behind our peripheral areas. Yet your amendment focuses on only one area, and I would like to remind you: we have mid and we have west Wales.
So, Adam Price, I’m going to go through in just a moment—because you obviously weren’t listening terribly clearly—what our plan is for developing economic growth in Wales. But before I do that, I would like to just address a comment made by both David Rees and by you, Cabinet Secretary, over the steel issue. I take great exception to the fact that you both stood up in different ways and in different tones to say that the UK Government have done absolutely nothing to support the steel industry—[Interruption.] Don’t start leaping up to your feet. You are the king of interventions, and it’s not happening today. Let me be clear: the Westminster Government have set up a dedicated steel council to work with all key stakeholders to explore actions that industry and government can take. They have already paid over £133 million—[Interruption.]—no, I won’t—to the steel sector to compensate for the cost of the renewables and the climate change policies. They’ve already secured flexibility over the implementation of the EU emissions regulation. They have successfully pressed for the introduction of trade defence instruments to protect the UK steel produces from unfair steel dumping. Let’s be absolutely clear: this is a global problem, and they have taken action. So, Cabinet Secretary, when you so gleefully talked about Chris Grayling saying how wonderful you were for Cardiff Airport, and you said that in a spirit of generosity, I would challenge you to equal that spirit of generosity and to recognise what the United Kingdom Government has helped to do for the steel industry.