Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:50 pm on 3 July 2018.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 1:50, 3 July 2018

The £60 million package that we've already alluded to in this Chamber and outside. The UK Government have offered nothing. There's been no interest at all from the UK Government for the past two years. There was—when David Cameron was there, there was interest, and I acknowledge that. Since then, nothing. 

I do, however, welcome the deal. The unions have given it a welcome as well. I think we have to remember we have then the guarantee of no compulsory redundancies till 2026. We also have, of course, the promises in relation to blast furnace 5. Two years ago, things were very bleak indeed. There was a real question mark as to whether the heavy end of Port Talbot could continue in the future. The plant was up for sale. We've come a huge way since then. Part of that is because of the work that we've put in as a Government—the money we've put on the table, the talking that's taken place, the engagement that we've had with Tata. And in the two years since 2016, when things looked very difficult indeed, we now have—let's not pretend that things are out of the woods yet, but we now have our steel industry in a far stronger position than it was then.