Minister, the MP for Llanelli, Nia Griffith, and I recently held a packed public meeting in Llanelli with the affected workers—an overwhelming majority of which were women—where there was strong support for the idea of co-locating with other public services in the town. To be fair to Carmarthenshire County Council, they’ve done everything they can to make options available to discuss with the DWP. Workers themselves emphasise that they estimate that they spend at least £0.5 million a year in the town centre in the local economy, which would be a devastating blow were that to be lost.

This week, Nia Griffith had a letter from Damian Hinds, the Minister for employment in the UK Government, who said that they have more estate capacity than is needed, and they’re therefore not in a position to discuss renting space from Carmarthenshire County Council. At the same time, he said that this was still subject to consultation, but it does seem that the UK Government have made up their minds. Would the Minister urge the First Minister to get in touch with the Prime Minister about this, because it is she who said that, post Brexit, the Government is committed to spreading wealth across the UK and this move would fly in the face of that?