Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:35 pm on 6 July 2021.
Can I thank the Minister for his statement this afternoon and for the answers he's given? Because he's made it quite clear he fully understands the challenges that are facing the steel industry today, with the move towards decarbonisation, and your recognition that it will cost jobs if we're not careful, if we don't do it correctly and rightly, and the time taken to get the new technologies in place and how we process that.
So, can I ask you a couple of questions quickly? What discussions have you had with Welsh steel companies in relation to their strategies for going forward, and how does the Welsh Government's plan dovetail with their strategies to ensure that we work together? And what discussions have you had with the UK Government about the funding, because we talk about the investment, and this funding is not going to be small? There's going to be large funding needed to actually deliver on the different pathways for decarbonisation to ensure that these businesses are sustainable for the future—you've mentioned electricity—because, remember, arc furnaces will use a lot of electricity, and we need to look at how we manage to actually deliver that, at the same time keeping green.