I think it’s important to recognise the enormous step the workers have taken in voting the way that they have and I’d like to pay tribute to the employees of Tata in Wales and also to the trade unions who have conducted themselves on behalf of the workers over many, many months in the best possible way imaginable. It has been an incredibly difficult time. This is the latest, albeit very welcome step, just the latest step in what has been a very long campaign to make the steel sector more sustainable for the future. But it’s been a campaign that Welsh Government has led, of that there is no doubt. We’ve done our part in offering a package of £60 million with conditions attached. Trade unions have done their bit, and today we’ve heard that workers have made a sacrifice also in order to do their bit and to make the sector more sustainable to make it more competitive to give it a future.

We now expect Tata to make good on its part of the deal with workers, but we also now expect the UK Government to take action. I’ve already spoken with the Secretary of State for Wales and I will also be writing to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to convey again my desire to see the UK industrial strategy demonstrate a more muscular interventionist approach to steel. We can only wish for some of the levers that they have at their disposal. They have those levers. We expect them now to use them. We expect them to use the industrial strategy to support the steel industry. We expect them to take action in terms of research and development. We expect them to take action in terms of high-energy cost, not just for steel but all energy-intensive operations.

In terms of the time frame that the Member raised—discussions have taken place with both myself and the First Minister; we regularly meet with the most senior officials from Tata—we expect, as I say, the promise, the pledge, the deal that Tata have offered to be delivered at the earliest opportunity. We certainly will be able now to expedite some of the proposals that have been put to Tata as part of the £60 million package. So, I hope to be able to bring forward announcements as soon as possible on further capital support for sites and also projects that will improve energy efficiency.

In terms of discussions with ThyssenKrupp, this is a commercial matter for Tata, but the conditions that we apply to the support that we’re offering will remain, whatever the future brings. I have also requested meetings with ThyssenKrupp to gain assurance from them about the Welsh skills sector if the joint venture were to go through.

I’m firmly of the belief that the steel industry in Wales has a very bright future, provided we get the investment and the interventions at a UK level that are required and that we’ve called for for many, many months. I do believe that, over the next five years, with the £1 billion investment that we expect Tata now to deliver, that the industry, with our support, will become more competitive, that it will modernise, that it will become more sustainable, and that there will be a long-term future for steel in Wales.