2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:35 pm on 5 July 2022.

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Photo of Delyth Jewell Delyth Jewell Plaid Cymru 2:35, 5 July 2022

I'd like a Government statement, please, on the mineworkers' pension scheme, setting out how the Welsh Government will put pressure on Westminster to finally do right by these miners and their widows and pay back the money that they owe them. Since 1994, Westminster Governments have pocketed billions of pounds of profit made by the mineworkers' pension scheme, because of how it was privatised. A Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee inquiry recommended in 2021 that these arrangements should be reviewed, but promises made by Boris Johnson and others have been broken. Now, that report is gathering dust, just as that other dust from those years of labouring underground is taking the lives of more and more miners every year. In the gallery today, we're joined by members of the National Mineworkers Pension Campaign; they're now raising funds to seek a judicial review. So, could a statement please be made to express solidarity with their cause and to tell these miners that Wales will fight their corner? Thank you.