Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. Today, obviously, as has been said, we’ve had the consultative result of the ballot. It’s clear that, despite what was a stark choice for the Tata workforce, one that was a choice between pensions and future investment in the plant, they’ve decided to keep their faith in Tata Steel. But would you agree with me that now it is time for Tata Steel to step up their side of the deal in relation to investment?

We shouldn’t be under any illusion at the moment that we can put this issue to rest, I think. On pensions, for example, I understand that Tata are currently in talks with the trustees and the pensions regulator as they say they can’t afford to continue sponsoring the scheme, as we all know. They want to walk away from the scheme as is and it could still go into the pension protection fund. The regulator at the moment won’t allow for that to happen as Tata are actually making a profit, but the regulator is already looking at this issue and it could take another year for this to be rectified, I am told.

So, the proposals that the workers were balloted on are conditional on a sustainable solution for the British Steel pension scheme. So, with that in mind, and with that conditionality in mind, if Tata are not allowed to walk away from their pension obligations by the pensions regulator, or negotiations take longer, what do you understand happens to these particular proposals? Do they still go ahead even though Tata haven’t got a sustainable solution to the scheme? What discussions have you had personally with the pensions regulator and Tata on this?

What actions will you take immediately to make it clear to Tata that, as a Government, you expect them to reciprocate the faith that has been placed in them by the workforce ballot today? Are you going to now step up as a Government and honour the commitments you made to the workforce before the ballot, including action, as was mentioned earlier, on funding for a local power plant and more investment into the steel research and development centre? I think it’s vitally important for steel to be a priority and not a low priority grade, as we’ve seen from the UK Government’s leaked document last week in relation to it being downgraded as a priority, and I’d be interested to hear views from the Conservatives here today as to why they think that it has been downgraded as a priority. I think what everybody wants in this room is to see a sustainable future, but I don’t think we should be under any pretence that this is the end of the discussion here today. Despite the vote, Tata may not be in a position to change the pensions, and therefore the investment may not follow. And I think that is what people need to have assurances on and need to have leadership from you and the UK Government and Tata on taking this issue forward now.