Orb Steelworks in Newport

Part of 4. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:26 pm on 18 September 2019.

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Photo of Lee Waters Lee Waters Labour 3:26, 18 September 2019

Well, I think a number of those questions have already been answered in previous answers, so I won't rehearse them. In terms of the general picture of the changes in the economy and the decline of some manufacturing firms—the Member mentioned Schaeffler in my own constituency and Ford—we are facing, in many ways, a perfect storm, and I do hate the overused metaphor, but the changes in the automotive sector are clearly having a massive impact as the demand for diesel falls. Allied with the trading uncertainty I mentioned just a moment ago, it's not giving businesses the confidence to invest, particularly the prospect of significantly higher tariffs from exporting from the UK. So, these joint impacts, which are beyond the control of the Welsh Government, are clearly having a huge effect. Despite that, until now, the employment figures have been encouraging, though, of course, patchily applied.

We are working hard to find new markets and also, for the future workforce, on Monday we'll be publishing the report by Professor Phil Brown into the future of automation and digitisation, and we'll be looking at how we can make sure the Welsh economy is best placed to take advantage of new industries as they emerge.