5. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport: The Recent Airbus Group Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:08 pm on 26 June 2018.

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Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 4:08, 26 June 2018

Can I thank Jack Sargeant for his contribution and for his questions? He's absolutely right—what investors want when they look at any country is certainty in terms of the political and economic environment and they need the right skills to be available and the right infrastructure in place. In Wales, we're improving the skills base, we're developing the right infrastructure, but Brexit risks impacting on us terribly if there is no deal or if there is a deal that does not meet the needs of Welsh businesses.

Can I say to Members that I have spoken with Greg Clark? I spoke with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on Friday. I conveyed to him my very serious concerns and also expressed my support for Members within his own party, albeit most from the back benches, including Anna Soubry and Guto Bebb, in terms of their comments recently concerning the statement by Airbus. It is not too late for the UK Government to change course. They need to drop the red lines and they need to accept a pragmatic arrangement. Unfortunately, because the Prime Minister is being shackled by those on the far right of her party, such an outcome is increasingly unlikely.

Now, I can say that, in addition to speaking with the Secretary of State, I speak very regularly with Unite the Union and with Airbus itself, with managers. Indeed, I recently appointed Katherine Bennett, senior vice-president of Airbus UK, to the new ministerial advisory board, recognising her insight, knowledge and expertise not just in the aerospace sector and manufacturing as a whole, but also in terms of the UK economy and the opportunities that we have, if we get the right Brexit deal, to develop the supply chain for the aerospace original equipment manufacturers. 

Now, Jack Sargeant is absolutely right, we are investing very heavily in Broughton; we have in the past. It's as a consequence of the repayable aid and the skills support and other forms of support that have been offered to Airbus over many years by successive Labour Governments that we now have 6,500 people employed at that site. We have helped to grow that site and we'll die in a ditch defending those people who are employed there; we will not give up on them.

As far as Nigel Farage is concerned, and his sniggering on television at the prospect of people—thousands of people—losing their jobs, this is the behaviour of a silver-spoon-sucking toff who, I'm afraid, has no awareness of what a decent hard day's work is like in the aerospace sector. If all he can do is respond by sniggering, then I'm afraid he won't be welcome at Airbus or any other industrial site where jobs could be obliterated by a 'no deal' scenario.