Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:17 pm on 10 October 2017.
It’s not clear, if there’s a covenant on the land, who would lift it, or whether the Ministry of Justice would have to go to court to lift it. It’s not clear without looking at the documentation. Port Talbot is hugely important in terms of manufacturing; we know that. A year and a half ago, he will know, things were bleak as far as the steelworks were concerned. The great fear that I had at the time—I would drive past it and I’d think, ‘Will we see the heavy end here for much longer?’ It’s still there. There are plans for it to prosper in the future. Why? Because of the work and the money we put in as a Government.
The reality is that we put money on the table, we worked hard with Tata, we convinced them about Port Talbot’s future, and the workforce responded. Because the workforce made sure that the losses that were being incurred at the plant were turned around very, very quickly into a situation, now, where the plant is profitable. That’s a tribute to the work that the workforce actually put in—not easy, and sacrifices, we know, such as the pension fund, had to be made. But, working with the workforce and working with Tata, we know that, with the joint venture that was announced, the promise that we’ve been given is that there’s no effect on Welsh jobs, no effect on Welsh sites. We’ve come a long way in a year and a half, and that’s the Welsh Government working hard for the people of Aberavon.