Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 2:43 pm on 4 July 2018.
I thank you for that answer, Cabinet Secretary. The announcement has undoubtedly lifted a cloud that has been hanging over the steelworks in the town for over two years now and offers hope of a secure future for the steel making in Port Talbot and other plants across Wales, because let's not forget that, actually, Port Talbot feeds those other plants as well. It's been welcomed by steelworkers, as you pointed out, who are actually meeting today to discuss it, as well as trade unions, politicians and the community across the town.
We are aware that the dark skies can come back—that's the problem. This proposal is actually focusing on the medium term and not the long term, because it talks about no compulsory redundancies before 2026 and the work to be done on the blast furnace to keep it operational until about 2026. So, there's still a longer term position. The ThyssenKrupp chief executive officer has often said that he's focusing on European operations and we are possibly not in his mind when it comes to that.
So, will this agreement impact upon the investment that has already been committed by the Welsh Government, because you've already made the commitment to the power plant—phase 1 has gone through. The funding has not yet been released for phase 2. I know there has been an issue of conditionality. Where are we on that? So, again, there's security coming through from the Welsh Government on that process, on that side of it. Have you had discussions with Tata on this matter as to what investment they're talking about in their merger and where that will go? Will it be simply in maintenance and repair, or will it actually be in new technologies and investment in new plant to actually take it to the next level of productivity, such as the capital line for new coke ovens that need to be undertaken? And have you had discussions with the Secretary of State for BEIS, because there is still a steel sector deal that has not yet been agreed, and it seems, at the moment, the UK Government is failing to do its bit, and if we want long-term sustainability, you also have to have discussions with them? So, how is it all pulling together now, based upon this merger plan?