Part of 3. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 3:06 pm on 31 January 2023.
I'm seriously interested in maintaining that capability within the UK, and that will exist here. The challenge is that the £300 million offer for Tata to equalise the £300 million offer to British Steel—they're actually different scales of operation. And actually, that's about moving towards electric arc production rather than maintaining an alternative form of blast steel manufacture. The challenge really is around capital investment, and how quickly that can be deployed, and the window for doing so isn't infinite. It has been a regular conversation that, as I've said in response to Jack Sargeant, I've had directly with UK Ministers, the First Minister has had directly with UK Ministers and directly with steel firms and the trade union side as well. There needs to be a sense of urgency from UK Government on this, and I hope that the Chancellor uses the budget coming up in March as an opportunity to announce and agree something meaningful to give our steel sector the opportunity to invest in its future and our future, and as I say, to see this as a sovereign UK capability. If it does that, there should be good news for the workers here in Wales.