Rebecca Evans AM, Assembly Member for Mid and West Wales, has said that she shares the First Minister’s concerns that UK Government inaction on high energy costs for industry in Wales will lead to job losses.
During First Minister’s Question Time, Mrs Evans questioned the First Minister on the UK Government’s response to the warnings he has made on this issue:
“First Minister, you have repeatedly made warnings about the dangers to the Welsh economy of the spiralling costs of energy to those industries that are energy intensive.
“Such companies continue to struggle with high energy bills and this clearly has an impact on their competitiveness.
“On a scale of 0 to 10, how responsive has the UK Government been to heeding your warnings and what action, if any, have they taken to reduce the costs for Welsh industry?”
The First Minister responded:
“I cannot give it zero, because it has sought to address this issue, but I would not give it more than about three. The reason is that although we had the words in the budget, there has been no real action as yet. I do have concerns that unless we see action soon from the UK Government, we will start to see job losses in energy-intensive industries in Wales.
“We cannot do anything about this as a devolved Government. There is a duty on the UK Government to follow through its words now with actions, otherwise we are going to start seeing problems in some of the most important manufacturing industries.”
Mrs Evans commented further to share her concern for jobs in Wales:
“Families across the UK are having to deal with year on year price increases on their energy bills whilst the top energy companies turn huge profits every year.
“Households are feeling the pain, and Wales’ energy intensive industries are no different.
“Whilst families have to make difficult choices between heating and eating, industry also has difficult choices to make. I hope these choices do not lead to disastrous job losses.
“The First Minister has marked the UK Government three out of 10 for their action in this field. In school report parlance, they ‘must do better.’”
