Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Jo Stevens and Mims Davies(1 week, 6 days ago)
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Mims Davies (East Grinstead and Uckfield) (Con)
Thank you, Mr Speaker. At the outset, as I come to the Dispatch Box for the first time in this role for Wales questions, may I please pay tribute to my former private secretary in the Wales Office, Debbie John, who was taken at a tender age due to pancreatic cancer? She and her family are in my thoughts today as I take up this role. She is much missed and very fondly remembered.
The right hon. Lady clearly needs to acknowledge to the House that the deal for Tata steel recently re-announced by her UK Government is identical to the one negotiated by my right hon. Friend the Member for North West Essex (Mrs Badenoch), who is now Leader of the Opposition.
Jo Stevens
I welcome the hon. Lady to her place and join her in her comments about her former private office secretary.
I think the hon. Lady needs to read the deal reached by the Government. The £1.25 billion transformation project at Port Talbot will deliver a state-of-the-art electric furnace, the contract for which has just been signed. In just under 10 weeks, without providing any additional funding beyond the £500 million previously announced, we delivered a better deal that secures the immediate future of Port Talbot and lays the foundations for future investment, as well as enhanced protections for the workforce in Port Talbot, Llanwern, Trostre and Shotton.
Mims Davies
I am delighted that the right hon. Lady has read the deal that we wrote, but the facts are simple: despite the protesting, this is the same deal that was previously negotiated by the last Conservative Government, involving the same amount of money to build the electric arc furnace and the same cash for the transition board. It is ludicrous for her or others to continue to claim that no support was in place and that it somehow appeared when she found it down the back of the sofa. She is fully aware that the cash had been sitting there the whole time. Perhaps an apology is needed for that, and for claiming that Port Talbot supplies the defence industry with materials.
Mims Davies (East Grinstead and Uckfield) (Con)
Will the Secretary of State express her regret about the impact of Labour’s Budget on Wales? It will undoubtedly make the people of Wales poorer. Pensioners have been left wondering whether they should turn on their heating this winter, and family farms will be destroyed. The Budget is affecting business confidence and employment across the nation.
Jo Stevens
The Budget provides the biggest ever settlement in real terms since the dawn of devolution, a protected £80 million for steelworkers and businesses, £88 million for city and growth deals, £320 million for funding through investment zones, £25 million for coal tips and a protected £440 million for local communities— I could go on. It was a great deal for Wales.