15:11 Jessica Morden (Labour)

As my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff Central said, we believe the Union is strengthened when we co-operate across the UK and share wealth according to need. All the energies of the Government, of all Governments, must be spent on recovering from the pandemic, tackling climate change and tackling the cost of living crisis, which is only set to get worse in April when national insurance contributions are cranked up to record levels. We should remind ourselves that Conservative Members here supported that measure.

Steel was noticeably absent from the Secretary of State’s opening remarks. While the Welsh Government use the levers they have to help our steel industry, this Government have failed repeatedly to address sky-high energy costs, unlike other countries such as Spain and Italy that have stepped in to help. The Government have failed to come up with an industrial policy: we get warm words on procurement, little in terms of helping our industry transition and no news on what the Government will do to lift tariffs. The world cannot decarbonise without steel. Other Governments can step in to help industry––why won’t ours?

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15:43 Gerald Jones (Labour)

I pay tribute to those who have spoken in today’s debate, particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Cynon Valley, who talked about the Welsh Government being the first to declare a climate emergency, votes for 16 and 17-year-olds, and the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015—an Act that bodes well for the whole UK and from which we can all learn.

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