Emergency Question: Carillion

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 1:38 pm on 16 January 2018.

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Photo of Mick Antoniw Mick Antoniw Labour 1:38, 16 January 2018

Cabinet Secretary, there are obviously ethical and very practical issues, both of which I'd like to address. We know the history of Carillion. We've debated it in this Chamber in terms of its anti-trade unionism, its blacklisting and its attacks on terms and conditions of worker,  and that's a model that's obviously contributed to its current downfall. I'm sure you will agree with me that it's a welcome sign that the UK Government is now investigating the Carillion directors. I'm sure you'd agree with me also that that investigation probably needs to go further, to the bankers who speculatively backed the company and, indeed, the Government Ministers who appear to have been so keen to line the pockets of the shareholders and the directors with goals and with contracts when there were clear warnings out. Would you agree with me that the most important bit is this: we have a number of Welsh companies, many of whom actually trade in England as well, who will now potentially not be paid and will now potentially be at risk of going under, and there are workers who have had their pension funds also robbed, and that we need to examine the impact on the Welsh economy of those particular companies and in particular what support we can give?

But in terms of the ethical question, isn't it a fact that we have an economic model that is basically about squeezing profits for the few, robbing the workers' pension funds and expecting the public, at the end of the day, to bail them out, and that we can be so grateful that the Welsh Government has not gone down this particular road?