 Well, good morning, Borodda, and thank you for joining me today for the Weekly Welsh Government Press Conference. I'd like to write an update on Wales's economic priorities and our discussions with the UK Government regarding the future of our economy. Later today, I'll meet my counterparts from the UK Government and other devolved nations for the first 2023 session of the UK Interministerial Group for Business and Industry. The representations that I make as Wales's economy minister will, as ever, be focused on actions needed to support better jobs within stronger businesses, to narrow the skills divide for more fulfilled careers, and to tackle poverty and the preventable harm that it causes to the future of our economy. Sustainable growth in a fairer UK will be essential to unlocking the exciting opportunities that Wales can maximise from offshore energy and steel to the film industry and cyber security. After almost a quarter of a century of devolution, it is clear that reliable and permanent partnerships between governments will be a basic requirement for sustainable growth in a fairer UK economy. The severe economic challenges that we face, together with the climate and nature emergencies, make these questions more urgent rather than less. Ahead of today's summit, on behalf of Wales and the Welsh Government, I'm calling on the UK Government to commit to a long-term and stable economic strategy. The UK is facing a period of severe economic uncertainty and in a weaker position than in any other G7 country. The UK is likely to go into recession as the worst-performing G7 country. Real incomes are falling. Forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility and the Bank of England indicate that unemployment in Wales is likely to increase between 20,000 and 40,000 people over the next 18 months. Inflation is expected to remain at around 10% over the first half of this year and productivity is weak. The impact of soaring energy bills and inflation was intensified by the UK Government's disastrous early-autumn mini-budget, which baked in preventable harm at the worst conceivable time. The lack of reliable and structured engagement between all UK nations has allowed for greater uncertainty for many sectors and workers who face multiple crises. At the same time, businesses and investors looking to the future are not being provided with the clarity needed to secure long-term business plans. Within the powers that we have, the Welsh Government is working constantly to prioritise the long-term action needed to create a stronger and fairer Welsh economy. In 2022, I launched a new employability and skills plan for Wales, offering people practical help to learn, upskill, change career or start a business. All of those opportunities will be touched by our journey to net zero. That is why we are now drawing together a net zero skills action plan, which will help businesses and workers to identify and support the skills and training required to secure jobs in a low-carbon Welsh economy. Estimates suggest that the foundation economy, or the everyday economy, accounts for four in ten jobs and £1 in every three that is spent in Wales. Food is a crucial foundation economy sector which has faced, and is still facing, many challenges following Brexit, the Covid pandemic and more recently the war in Ukraine and rising energy and fuel bills. That is why last month I launched a buying food fit for the future. That is a new initiative to get more Welsh food onto public sector plates. It is part of the Welsh Government's efforts to support the foundational economy. In February, we will also publish our new innovation strategy following expert input and a public consultation at the end of last year. This will take forward a further commitment in the cooperation agreement with Plaid Cymru on a shared ambition. I want to see Wales receive a greater share of UK funds for innovation, so that we can deliver a culture of innovation that supports everything from better health outcomes to stronger businesses that are fit for the future. We know that businesses are struggling with extremely high energy costs. That is why I have called on the UK Government to do more to support them now. We are also acting now to help to save energy costs for the long term. Through our flagship development bank of Wales, we will shortly launch the green business loan scheme, which will provide low cost loans with consultancy support to businesses. Later this year, I will be launching our manufacturing action plan, covering our approach to supporting the jobs and businesses that power local economies and world-redown products and innovation. But we need our partners in the UK Government to support us by developing a long-term economic strategy. Our steel and semiconductor setters matter to the future of the entire UK economy and are essential to a low-carbon global economy. The UK Government has not treated the jobs and businesses involved as serious priorities for a number of years and has failed to act in a consistent way on the very real threats that both face. The decision to leave Wales with less say over less money when it comes to post-EU funds is making the current economic crisis worse. Universities and the third section Wales are reporting that significant redundancies will be likely as a result of the UK Government's deliberate choice to shut them and indeed us in the Welsh Government out of the process. Businesses will not receive the level of support they could have accessed through our schemes had the funding been restored to the Welsh Government. This is perhaps the starkest example of a cynical political attempt to undermine devolution. As the cost is now counted in jobs lost and opportunities squandered, we remain unwavering in our cause for the UK Government to end this argument, replace the funding and decision-making processes back here in Wales. On other issues we have had some notable successes on working in partnership and I'd ask UK Government ministers to learn from this in order to address the harm caused elsewhere. Together we have made progress on free ports, co-designing the prospectus and we are now jointly assessing the applications. Ministers from the Welsh and UK Government will together select a successful bid for a model that should promote fair work and sustainability. Both the Welsh and the UK Government are investing in the global centre for rail excellence that will link rail industry demand for train testing services to new jobs and export opportunities in on-ployment. I'm also pleased that UK is now finally taking seriously the need to engage on borders policy. It's a genuine improvement that I'm pleased to recognise today. The lessons are clear. Good engagement has the power to deliver stronger economic outcomes. It's time for the UK Government to invest in partnership to secure a stronger Welsh economy in a fairer and more secure UK economy. I'll now start taking questions from the journalists who are here today and we first start with Ethelw from BBC Wales. Thank you. We're going to see a number of strikes over the next few months. When are you going to start accepting responsibility for these instead of constantly blaming the UK Government for them? We've got responsibility for devolved public services. We're having an honest engagement with trade union partners and indeed the public. That's why the health minister met with trade unions last week. We're looking forward to those trade unions considering the offer put on the table for a sum of money to help this year. It's about a constructive engagement that respects our trade union partners and colleagues and the way we've worked in more than 20 years. Education Minister will sit down later this week with education unions. So we are accepting our responsibility for the things that we are responsible for. But you can't have an honest debate around this without recognising that after a decade of austerity, after a decade where all our budgets have been constrained, the UK Government choices around this have a very real impact on what is affordable. You'll have seen the draft budget where significant choices are being made to reduce budgets. You'll have seen that health, local government including education are the key priorities of the Welsh Government draft budget. That's meant reductions to my overall budget. That's the whole Government priority and it shows we are taking seriously the priorities we have. But without UK Government action to recognise the real term reduction in pay as a direct result of a decade of austerity, without further investment in real terms increases for public service workers over time, then we're going to see the disappointment and the frustration that exists continue. So it's an entirely fair and honest engagement with both workers and the public from the Welsh Government. I just wish we could say the same from our UK counterparts. Can I also ask you about the Gender Recognition Act in Scotland? Firstly, do you agree with what Scotland is doing and what do you think about the UK Government's attempts to block that? There are two issues. There's a first point about the rights of the trans community and the Scottish Parliament has gone through a full scrutiny process of its bill. It's taken evidence and considered that and you have to start by recognising that trans people have their rights as the most contested and disputed in the UK. Now, I think when you look at what the Scottish Parliament has done, you need to recognise people across the Scottish Parliament voted in favour of this bill. Now, I haven't gone through the same scrutiny and evidence-gathering process, but I do recognise that a number of people in the trans people in the process are currently too difficult to gain agenda recognition certificate. And what the Scottish Parliament haven't done is say you will or won't have a certificate. It's how you get that. And in many ways it mirrors what happens in other European countries. And this, I think, is part of the honest policy challenges. That if what the Scottish Parliament has done is so difficult, then why does the UK Government recognise gender recognition certificates at the same age from a number of other European countries? I think there's eight or nine different European countries that they recognise, but they're not prepared to recognise what the Scottish Parliament has done on a genuinely cross-party basis. First Minister being clear that we don't have the powers, or we would like the powers, and we would consider how to legislate if we had them. Now, I actually think that the trans community are being used as a wedge issue. This is an area where you need more understanding and kindness, and the way this has been approached is an ideal way to do neither of those things. And so I understand why people are upset and why passions are high. But actually, this is really something that anyone who believes in devolution should be genuinely concerned about. The UK Government have a way to engage with other governments and other parliaments that does not mean that you have this cliff edge choice about the full scrutiny of a bill, and then at the very end, rather than going to the Supreme Court, they make an alternative order. And that's why our proposals for reforming the union are real and serious. For people like me who believe in the future of the union, we need a union that works, where you don't have an approach where the UK government is the sole and only arbiter, and there isn't a recognised process to resolve disputes in a way that we have set out. And I'm pleased that the UK Labour Party is taking this seriously with the work that Gordon Brown is doing, where I do think we've got an opportunity to both perform the union and save it for the future. Thank you for the questions. I've now got Dan Vemp, LBC, who is in the room with us today. Dan. Thank you Minister. Good morning. If I could turn back to the issue of strikes, the UK government's proposals for new legislation, of course, cleared the first hurdle. I wonder, are you concerned about the potential impact on workers' rights, and what do you make of the argument that there needs to be a balance between workers' rights to strike and people's right to go about living their everyday lives? Well, the right to withdraw your labour is a fundamental right of all of us. And it's an outrageous attack on that fundamental human right. And the arguments made by the government are a wonderful example of plain and straightforward dishonesty. The new legislation will not resolve the problems that we currently have. You have to do that by negotiation and engagement. And there isn't a direct comparison with the European countries that are being cited. Actually, most of those countries have more strike days with the legislation in place and they don't use it. When you look at what's being done as well, this isn't a point about life and limb services, because actually our transport and education sectors are included in the proposed legislation. It's a deliberate attempt to do more of division, how you divide people and how you distract people from the very real challenges that we face. I said earlier in my opening remarks that we're in the weakest position of G7 economies. We're likely to have a more difficult recession than our counterparts. And yet actually rather than address that, the challenges that we face as an economy, what that will mean for each and every one of us that lie at the heart of so many of our issues in the UK, there's a deliberate and willful attempt to talk about anything that is different and difficult to divide and to have an argument that won't resolve the challenges that we face. So the Welsh Government is very clear that we don't believe that the legislation is necessary, we don't support it, we would not do it here in Wales. We will look at what comes through the UK Parliament and consider what we can do to protect, devolve public services where we have responsibilities, but actually what we need is an approach from the UK Government that is about addressing challenges rather than making them worse. And if I could turn the attention briefly to Cardiff Airport, it's worth just less than a third of what the Welsh Government paid for it. Another airline has pulled out now with air and it's clear that it's struggling to attract both airlines and passengers since the pandemic. Is it not time to admit that it's a failed venture that you need to sell up and move on from it now? The challenge for Cardiff Airport and indeed regional airports around the UK is really difficult. We saw Doncaster Airport closed not that long ago as well and it's about whether there is an approach for the importance of regional airports around the UK and whether we really think it would be a good thing for Wales not to have an international airport. And so post a pandemic, the whole aviation sector is still facing very real challenges and you're seeing that actually lots of regional airports are still struggling to get more people to return, people's willingness and ability to travel and actually in a cost of living crisis, no surprise, the passenger numbers are not increasing as we would have wanted them to. It's obviously disappointing that Whizair haven't come back but we remain committed to a sustainable future for the airport. Myself and the First Minister both had conversations with Qatar Airways about their return to the airport. So we are looking at what we can do to provide a future for the airport itself and recognising it's broader importance to the Welsh economy. Thank you, Dan. I've now got Will Hardy from ITV Wales. Thanks very much. Ukrainian refugees who moved to Wales are now in some cases facing the prospect of becoming homeless. What are you, as the Welsh Government, trying to do to prevent this from happening? Julie James, the Minister for Climate Change, retains responsibility for housing and homelessness services. It's a regular and direct passion of hers and indeed our colleagues and partners in local authorities. The broad success of the Ukraine Resettlement Programme, the welcome we've provided to Ukraine and people and families in Wales, is a marker not just of efforts by the Government and other services but by the generosity of people in many different communities around Wales. Now, as people move in and they develop different relationships during the time that they're here with us in Wales and having a home and a welcome here with us in Wales, there will be changes to some of those circumstances. It's why homelessness services remain a priority within the Government and it's why we continue to work with our partners in the third sector and indeed in local government to have a sustained approach to try to make sure that people don't become homeless. There's a significant cost to pay when people do become homeless both in terms of the finance of it as well as what it does to people's longer term prospects. But I'm sure if you want more detail on this then Julie James will be more than happy to respond to any questions you've got or any particular examples. Just in terms of that though, for people who are creating refugees facing that situation, what would you say to them in terms of giving them reassurance that that isn't going to be the case, that they're not going to ultimately become homeless? Well, I'd say to anyone facing the potential for homelessness to engage with the support services that are available. There are support services available in every part of Wales. Your local authority certainly will always provide advice on those prospects. And we're not about to see a Welsh government driven policy that sees more Ukrainian refugees or other people made deliberately homeless. It's exactly the opposite of what we have sought to do and welcoming people into Wales after the illegal invasion of their country by Putin. But actually, we've done more than that as well. If you think about people from Afghanistan and Syria who have made it to UK, we've provided a real welcome and support. And I'm proud that we've done that. It's part of our commitment as a nation of sanctuary, the practical support and help we provide for people to either rebuild their lives here. And some of those people stay here permanently. Some people return to their country of origin. But this is about us recognising that it benefits Wales to have this approach. And it is part of not just our basic humanity, there is a real and practical reason of trying to make sure that these services are successful. So I'm proud of what we have done. And I hope that anyone listening who is concerned about their future will take on the commitment of the government across all ministers and recognise there are support services. And if you're concerned, please do seek support and advice. The next question is from Sean Barry from Business Live. Morning, Minister. Can I just pick up on Dan's point on Cardiff Airport? You're committed to it as an important transport hub for Wales. But where do you see its potential for freight and logistics development? There's a significant amount of land around there and its potential as a free port. So pivoting away from that kind of chasing passenger numbers against Bristol, if it is to return to profitability, freight and a free port designation might be part of its recovery. And also on the free port decision, there are currently three bits in Wales seeking approval for the first three ports in Wales. That's a decision you will make in conjunction with the Department for Leveling Up. So I'm just trying to understand how you will manage a potential conflict of interest in that process because you obviously only own Cardiff airports. OK, so on the point around the airport and freight, it is part of what the airport themselves are interested in to try to improve the amount of freight that goes through the airport. So that is part of how they see their business. Now, obviously, Sean, I'm not trying to run the airport's business directly here. There's a team in place. There's a chair and a board. There's a chief executive team and they understand the need to try to generate more business for the economic sustainability of the airport. But it is an important transport hub for Wales, not just for one particular corner of the country. On free port choices, it sets out in the prospectus that Welsh Government-owned land can be included as part of a bid, but it has to be identified. That doesn't guarantee that any of those bids are somehow promoted to have a privileged position. If you look at other free port bids across other parts of the UK, I'd be surprised if there wasn't Government-owned land that was potentially identified through part of the selection process. I don't have direct ownership interests and I've been, when people have to identify land, they have to remember what would happen to it. There's a professional process between the two governments. Our officials are assessing the bids that have come in. I look forward to receiving the advice on those bids and then to go through the decision-making process. I don't accept that there is a conflict of interest. Otherwise, you would identify conflicts in any area of land where there's direct public ownership interests. We do have processes that insulate decision makers from those particular issues. I can't give you any indication on whether a free port bid would or wouldn't be a good thing for the airport or any other location around Wales, because I'm very keen not to make comments on either prejudice or promote one bid over another, one I need to go through the advice process and then decision makers properly. That's fair to all people. I look forward at some points in the not-too-distant future to be able to make a decision together with a UK minister in the levelling up department. Sean, I'll be able to give you a much better answer about why some bids have been considered, why some bids have been scored in different ways and what the ultimate choice is. OK, thank you. The British Business Bank, you talked about more cooperation to the UK government and the Welsh Government. The British Business Bank has now committed £130 million for a new fund specifically for Wales, and you will know that the procurement process starts in March and we should have the funds making up and running and potentially making their first investments in the autumn. Now, what we don't know is the split between debt and equity and whether there be ring-fence funds, say in the equity element, that certain amounts of investments have to be made in north Wales or south-west Wales or south, or the middle of Wales or whatever. But in principle, and you will be consulting on this, it's not your decision, but would you be looking for the British Business Bank to ring-fence geographical elements of that fund, say for the equity element, if it's £80 million, that £10 million has to be invested in companies in the north-west of Wales or in the south or in the Swansea Bay city region? OK, so I forced it, Sean. I had a meeting with the British Business Bank last week to provide an update on what they're looking to do with the fund, and I'm pleased that they've also had a constructive engagement with DBW, because, as you know, part of my concern was that I both want to see more investment from the British Business Bank, so Wales isn't carved out of the opportunities they can bring, but it's done in a way that is complementary to the activities of the Development Bank of Wales. Now, they're looking at, and they're going to be consulting on how they would go forward with those investment plans, and when that consultation comes out, I think you'll find the answer to some of your questions around a regional profile for investment, how that would be managed, and we'll then have further conversations on some more detail following their outline conversations, but I do think you'll see that there'll be an honest attempt to make sure that the British Business Bank investment is something where there is access to all parts of Wales, and it's not simply something we'll get put into one of the regions over others. So, I look forward to that, and I too look forward to not just more conversations but further answers in the spring, and then hopefully seeing the investments taking place to help grow the economy here in Wales through the autumn and beyond. Thanks for the question, Sean. I've now got Claire Broad, who is in the room. Claire Bode, sorry. I think I misread my type of question. Apologies. Thank you. So, going back to Scotland yesterday, it was revealed that the UK Government will be blocking the Gender Recognition Bill. Does this not totally undermine the point of devolution if the UK Government can say, actually we don't know, we don't like what you're doing with your power, therefore we're going to stop it? Well, I think it's a big problem for devolution, and I think that the way they've gone about it does not help to provide the security and the stability that we need for the future of the union. That's why we've gone through a process of putting forward reform proposals in reforming our union, so that there is a proper way for government to speak with and resolve disputes with each other, and it's why I think a proper settlement on this is important for the future of the union. Using a wedgy issue to do this may provide headlines that the UK might like for a period of time, but it will provide greater problems for the future, and they really should take a step back. If the UK Government believes in the future of the union, they need to recognise that what they're doing now is not helpful to securing the union for future. Focusing more on Liberty Steel now. Last week it was announced that it will be closing several of their plans, including the one in Newport now. Chair of the cross-parliamentary group on steel, Stephen Kinnock, said that following this closure, he's also concerned now about Port Talbot Steel, Tata Steel in Port Talbot, sorry. What is the Welsh Government doing to prevent any sort of closure of Port Talbot following the closure of Liberty Steel? Well, it's not clear exactly what the proposals of Liberty Steel are. I spoke directly with community, one of the main trade unions in the steel sector, and the announcement talked about pausing activities. It didn't talk about a permanent closure, so we need to ask more about what the proposals actually are around Liberty Steel, but also about what that does mean for the future, because there is a real future for the steel sector. If you think about the significant opportunity we have in floating offshore wind, for example, but others too, we'll need to have steel to be able to develop and deliver that massive regeneration in renewable power, but also the economic opportunity to come with it. The alternative is that we import that steel, and if that steel is imported, a lot of the economic value comes from somewhere else, we then can't be clear around the embedded carbon within the steel that's produced, so actually it's really important to us on a number of fronts. So it's part of the reason why we think that the UK should see the steel sector as part of the sovereign capability for the UK, and if you believe that's true and it should be the case, then actually we do need to think about different steel production in different parts of the UK, because of not just Liberty, but Celsa and Tata as producers of steel here in Wales, we're a really significant part of that UK-wide sector. So I don't think there should be concerns that somehow Tata will not have a future. The challenge is what sort of future will it have, and will we now see a serious investment and support proposal from the UK for the steel sector. We've been calling for a long time for action on the energy prices that the steel sector pays here in the UK. There are significantly higher energy costs and counterparts in competitor European economies. A longer term deal on support for that would make a real difference to invest the confidence and the ability to then see the sector transition. So I think there is definitely a future for steel, not just with the plants that Liberty have, not just with Tata, but across the UK, but it does require serious and long term investment and partnership from the UK government, with the sector itself, and indeed with us, because we have always been supportive of the sector and the way it helps to re-skill people for the future. So steel will look different in 10 years and 20 years and 30 years time, but I still believe there is a real future for lots of very good jobs to support our future economy with steel produced here in Wales. Thank you. And finally, Will Hayward from Wales Online. Thank you Minister. You've just announced a lot of strategies in Wales before and it's important to reflect and learn lessons. So what do you think is the biggest mistake or misstep the Welsh Government has made in managing the Welsh economy over the last 10 years? And how has that affected your upcoming plans? I haven't gone out looking for a report card on the biggest mistake. I understand why you put the question the way you do, but I'm not going to go out and give a remarkably unhelpful question. There might write great headlines for you, but won't help us to have the sort of future we want for the economy. This is about giving a sense of direction and a sense of where we can have opportunities for the future. And if you look at where we've been in the journey with European funds, for example, we've learned a number of lessons in that time. We recognise that we had lots of activity in the first phase of European funds, but we weren't as strategic as we could have been and we've moved to a more strategic approach on how we use those EU structural funds. Those are lessons we wanted to apply to the future. We've now got an entirely different approach. The challenge there is the way that those funds have not been reduced, but the way they're being applied by the UK Government, we think will be less effective. So we have learned lessons in that sense, but there's a broader point about having a plan for the future is what I was talking about today. Without a plan from the UK Government, the moment is very hard to see what their plan is. We won't actually have the ability to make investments and choices both here and in our own Government here in Wales, but businesses themselves want a sense of direction as well. So when I talk about our approach on employability and skills, that's one of the levers we have, and it's a level of confidence and certainty that we know that partners here are looking for. The innovation strategy will add a further block for how we build the future of the Welsh economy as well. The points I make about the sectors where we've got real opportunities for growth in Wales, that's what we're looking to do in learning lessons and being positive. About the lessons we have learned and what that could and should mean for a fairer, stronger and greener Welsh economy. Thank you. The Welsh economy is really struggling. There are real weaknesses there, and ultimately you're responsible for it. I don't think it's disingenuous to ask you to reflect on what you think have been the issues and lessons you might have learnt over the coming years. Surely you're not suggesting that there's been no missteps or mistakes. So for example, one of the things we're keen to make sure we address is some of our challenges around both productivity and indeed people who are not economically active. This is where you see the honesty and the moving pictures between what the Welsh Government does and our counterparts in the UK Government. So the Department for Work and Pensions at various points have moved away from interventions around the labour market and they've moved back in. So our previous approach on employability programmes we actually did more with people who are closer to the labour market, closer to being job ready. The Department for Work and Pensions has moved back into that space in more recent years. So actually rather than duplicating or competing to help support those people into employment, we've had a deliberate approach set out very clearly in the employability plan that I launched to help people further away from the labour market. So people who need more intervention and more support to become job ready. And actually that's a big factor in economic productivity and activity here in Wales. We have too many people overall who aren't in work and aren't able or seeking work actively. Now that's a big lag on the economy but it's also a big challenge in lost human capital. People's ability to find work, to find work that is fulfilling and actually if we're really serious about having inclusive growth in our future we need to find ways to help support those people. Often we're talking about groups of people who are challenging other areas of life so you're talking about the different challenges the people of colour, people that look like me face in getting into the labour market and securing positions. The challenges of what childcare looks like for different people as well. People who haven't acquired the same level of skills and qualification through traditional education and training. So that's why we're looking at helping people who are further away from being job ready because without that intervention we won't see those people having a real prospect for the future and there's a really economic price paid as well as what you might call an ethical remoral price for not supporting those people. So we're shifting our resources to try to do the right thing and in the budget which I'm sure you've had a chance to look at you'll have seen that I've made deliberate choices to carry on investing in skills despite the really challenging set we've got with a real terms reduction in the Welsh Government budget. I'm protecting what we're doing in skills for the future but also protecting what we're doing around these programmes and going back into work as well as the difficult reality and you've seen this in today's figures that we expect more people will start to lose jobs over the next year. So that protection and support for programmes to help people back into work is really important but it does rely on us understanding what the UK Government are doing too. So there's honesty in what we're doing and we're looking to try to make sure that our actions really do fulfil what we want to see for Wales. So that's why we have a stronger economy intervent around skills supporting more people that are genuinely fulfilling careers. Thank you all very much for your time. This morning I look forward to speaking to you again and taking questions at a future press conference. I hope you enjoy the rest of the day. Take care.