Plaid Cymru blasts Vaughan Gething Mumbai visit as he returned without “anything substantial”.

The time to visit Mubmai to press the case with Tata executives for the long term sustainability of steel making in Wales had long passed, Plaid Cymru Economy spokesperson Luke Fletcher MS has said.

Branding the trip as delivering “nothing substantial” Mr Fletcher asked the First Minister why he hadn’t met TATA bosses when they were in the UK two weeks ago, questioning whether he had even asked for a meeting.
Addressing Vaughan Gething directly Luke Fletcher said “You went to India, with no specific asks, no inclination from TATA that anything would change as a result of your visit. What was the purpose?”

In the Senedd responding to the First Minister’s statement on his recent visit to Mumbai, Luke Fletcher MS said:
“I held out some hope that the First Minister would return with something substantial.

Let's be honest here: the time to go to India had long passed. Now, we first heard rumblings about the possible closure of the blast furnaces and job losses in Port Talbot last year. Where was the urgency then? The bosses of Tata were in the UK two weeks ago. Why didn't Vaughan Gething meet with them then? Did he ask for a meeting?

As far as I can see now, he went to India with no specific asks, no inclination from Tata that anything would change as a result of your visit, so what was the purpose?

What is now happening at Port Talbot is monumental policy failure at both a UK Government and Welsh Government level over several years, if not decades. After all, we have been in this situation before, haven't we?

A multinational company holding both Governments to ransom, looking for Government bung. For Tata, it's been a semi-regular occurrence.

The First Minister said in his statement that Tata should wait until after the next general election. Now, it's a line repeated time and time again. Well, at the election will be too late. Blast furnace 5 closed by June, four in September. We need action now. And what is Labour's offer exactly? Three billion pounds for steel, not just for Port Talbot but for the entire UK. So, £3 billion for the entire UK when on the continent they're investing upwards of £2.6 billion in single sites.

Let's be clear: once the blast furnaces are turned off, that's it, you can't turn them back on, they're not like the computers that we have in front of us here. Tata won't wait around for what would potentially be the same level of financial support, nor will they hang on for an election that nobody knows when it's actually going to happen.
There are three options, as far as I can see it, that are on the table, just like last week: nationalisation, preservation, or managed decline. I'd welcome other options if there are any for consideration. That's why I submitted a no-named-day motion; let's debate these options, and let's come to a decision, because so far, all I've heard from both Governments is meek acceptance of the impending loss of up to 10,000 jobs in my region, and that simply is not acceptable: no fight, no desire, no passion, only fear of rocking the boat. Meanwhile, Tata isn't rocking the boat, they're capsizing it.”