Browse content similar to 06/04/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Welcome to Wales Today. | 0:00:04 | 0:00:05 | |
Our top stories: There were hopes it would stage motorsport events | 0:00:05 | 0:00:08 | |
and bring up to 6000 jobs but tonight, a big question | 0:00:08 | 0:00:10 | |
mark over the future of the Circuit of Wales. | 0:00:10 | 0:00:15 | |
And the man who could buy Tata's steel business here admits there's | 0:00:15 | 0:00:17 | |
a lot of work to be done before any deal can be agreed. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:27 | |
Good evening. | 0:00:29 | 0:00:37 | |
It's a project which has promised thousands of jobs | 0:00:37 | 0:00:39 | |
and a transformation of Ebbw Vale but tonight, | 0:00:39 | 0:00:42 | |
there are big question marks over the future of the Circuit | 0:00:42 | 0:00:45 | |
of Wales race track. | 0:00:45 | 0:00:46 | |
It follows a decision by the Welsh Government | 0:00:46 | 0:00:48 | |
that they cannot underwrite investment worth more | 0:00:48 | 0:00:51 | |
than ?350 million by the insurance firm Aviva. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:56 | |
Independent advice has questioned the viability of the project | 0:00:56 | 0:00:59 | |
and what's described as an unacceptable risk | 0:00:59 | 0:01:01 | |
to the government. | 0:01:01 | 0:01:03 | |
With the latest, here's Iwan Griffiths. | 0:01:03 | 0:01:11 | |
It was seen as an ambitious project with a potential to change the whole | 0:01:11 | 0:01:15 | |
of the Heads of the Valleys area. The aim was to bring thousands | 0:01:15 | 0:01:18 | |
of paying customers to Ebbw Vale, drawn to South Wales to enjoy | 0:01:18 | 0:01:20 | |
motorsport events like the MotoGP. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:22 | |
The Circuit of Wales promised up to 6000 jobs. | 0:01:22 | 0:01:26 | |
The people behind the project have always insisted | 0:01:26 | 0:01:28 | |
that the money is there. | 0:01:28 | 0:01:30 | |
So how much money have you got pledged now? | 0:01:30 | 0:01:32 | |
The full amount. | 0:01:32 | 0:01:34 | |
The full amount? | 0:01:34 | 0:01:35 | |
?300 million you've got pledged? | 0:01:35 | 0:01:36 | |
We've got it pledged but you have to close it down, and then some | 0:01:36 | 0:01:40 | |
of that includes Welsh government approvals, | 0:01:40 | 0:01:42 | |
again not yet closed down. | 0:01:42 | 0:01:44 | |
But tonight, the sticking point has come over the Welsh government | 0:01:44 | 0:01:47 | |
being asked to provide a financial guarantee to the privately | 0:01:47 | 0:01:51 | |
funded project. | 0:01:51 | 0:01:53 | |
Insurance firm Aviva have been expected to back the project | 0:01:53 | 0:01:56 | |
to the tune of ?357 million. | 0:01:56 | 0:01:59 | |
Ministers have taken legal and financial advice, | 0:01:59 | 0:02:03 | |
and it was after final external advice that the economy minister | 0:02:03 | 0:02:06 | |
reluctantly came to the conclusion not to proceed with a guarantee. | 0:02:06 | 0:02:12 | |
You have got to look at that we are now being | 0:02:12 | 0:02:14 | |
asked to undertake. | 0:02:14 | 0:02:16 | |
One time, when we started to talk about this project, | 0:02:16 | 0:02:18 | |
we knew we might have partners that would be private sector investment. | 0:02:18 | 0:02:21 | |
It went then from talking about ?35 million weeks ago now | 0:02:21 | 0:02:25 | |
to over ?350 million as a guarantee, and was a 100% guarantee. | 0:02:25 | 0:02:30 | |
People have spoken about whether we could have | 0:02:30 | 0:02:32 | |
done a lesser guarantee. | 0:02:32 | 0:02:33 | |
Could we have done 80%? | 0:02:33 | 0:02:35 | |
But Aviva, who are the other partners in this, were not even | 0:02:35 | 0:02:38 | |
prepared to guarantee that 20%. | 0:02:38 | 0:02:40 | |
In a statement, Heads of the Valleys Development Company | 0:02:40 | 0:02:43 | |
said has said they respect and understand the Minister's | 0:02:43 | 0:02:46 | |
decision on the support for a 100% guarantee for the private funding | 0:02:46 | 0:02:51 | |
and will continue negotiations with the Welsh government, | 0:02:51 | 0:02:54 | |
the local authorities and Aviva investors to advance | 0:02:54 | 0:02:57 | |
the development on revised terms. | 0:02:57 | 0:03:00 | |
The town has had many millions spent regenerating it after the steelworks | 0:03:00 | 0:03:04 | |
employing 10,000 people in its heyday in the 1960s | 0:03:04 | 0:03:07 | |
closed in 2002. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:10 | |
Unemployment has remained high. | 0:03:10 | 0:03:12 | |
The Circuit of Wales project was seen as a way of bringing jobs | 0:03:12 | 0:03:15 | |
and further investment to this area. | 0:03:15 | 0:03:20 | |
Tonight, the vision of seeing these kind of scenes in South Wales | 0:03:20 | 0:03:23 | |
will depend on finding a private sector backer who is willing | 0:03:23 | 0:03:27 | |
to take more of a risk. | 0:03:27 | 0:03:30 | |
Liberty Steel could buy Tata's plants in a matter of months | 0:03:30 | 0:03:33 | |
if a deal can be agreed. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:36 | |
Its boss, Sanjeev Gupta, told Wales Today that there's | 0:03:36 | 0:03:38 | |
still a lot of work to be done but so far, no other buyer has | 0:03:38 | 0:03:41 | |
come forward publicly. | 0:03:41 | 0:03:43 | |
Here's our business correspondent, Brian Meechan. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:47 | |
Liberty Steel says it's hard positive talks with the UK and Welsh | 0:03:47 | 0:03:50 | |
government about its plans to take over Tata's operations. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:53 | |
Its Newport site sits across the river the power | 0:03:53 | 0:03:57 | |
station, which is also owned by the Liberty boss' family. | 0:03:57 | 0:04:02 | |
The steel industry, including Liberty, has | 0:04:02 | 0:04:04 | |
been calling for the UK Government to take action to reduce energy | 0:04:04 | 0:04:08 | |
costs for years. | 0:04:08 | 0:04:11 | |
It's been one of Tata's frustrations that ministers | 0:04:11 | 0:04:13 | |
haven't been willing to go further. | 0:04:13 | 0:04:16 | |
The question now is whether this current crisis means that the UK | 0:04:16 | 0:04:20 | |
Government has been pulled far closer to where the steel industry | 0:04:20 | 0:04:23 | |
wants it to be, reducing those costs. | 0:04:23 | 0:04:27 | |
Liberty wants to develop an | 0:04:27 | 0:04:28 | |
energy park here, including a biomass facility and tidal lagoons | 0:04:28 | 0:04:31 | |
for Cardiff and Newport. | 0:04:31 | 0:04:33 | |
It has shares in the company behind the | 0:04:33 | 0:04:35 | |
Swansea Bay tidal lagoon. | 0:04:35 | 0:04:37 | |
Making energy cheaper for all is the key to | 0:04:37 | 0:04:39 | |
reducing costs for the steel industry. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:42 | |
Tidal lagoon is one of | 0:04:42 | 0:04:43 | |
those technologies which will transform the way energy is made | 0:04:43 | 0:04:45 | |
globally. | 0:04:45 | 0:04:47 | |
In due course, it should be given every attention, and even | 0:04:47 | 0:04:50 | |
more so now that we want to propose to turn the UK steel | 0:04:50 | 0:04:55 | |
industry into a recycling industry, which requires a lot of energy. | 0:04:55 | 0:04:59 | |
There are sticking points to any deal, though, not least Tata's | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
pension liabilities. | 0:05:02 | 0:05:04 | |
The company's scheme covers 135,000 people in the | 0:05:04 | 0:05:07 | |
UK. | 0:05:07 | 0:05:08 | |
It has assets of ?14 billion and a deficit | 0:05:08 | 0:05:12 | |
of almost ?500 million. | 0:05:12 | 0:05:15 | |
Though that has been falling, it could increase to billions in | 0:05:15 | 0:05:17 | |
future. | 0:05:17 | 0:05:18 | |
The Secretary of State has identified that is a clear issue as | 0:05:18 | 0:05:21 | |
well. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:22 | |
Everybody is aware it's an issue and everybody is aware that | 0:05:22 | 0:05:25 | |
the issue has to be addressed. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:27 | |
European state aid rules may stop the UK Government helping directly. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:31 | |
One solution, though, could be the government buying | 0:05:31 | 0:05:33 | |
the sites from Tata and immediately selling them to | 0:05:33 | 0:05:35 | |
Liberty, as was done in Scotland. Another concern for Liberty will be | 0:05:35 | 0:05:40 | |
that if it buys Port Talbot, it will be going head-to-head | 0:05:40 | 0:05:43 | |
with Tata's most | 0:05:43 | 0:05:44 | |
successful steelworks in Holland, including trying to sell to car | 0:05:44 | 0:05:47 | |
companies in the UK, not least Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:53 | |
While accepting it's a problem, Sanjeev Gupta says | 0:05:53 | 0:05:56 | |
it's early days. | 0:05:56 | 0:05:57 | |
He's also not ruling out continuing to make steel | 0:05:57 | 0:05:59 | |
from scratch at Port Talbot for some time while introducing recycling. | 0:05:59 | 0:06:05 | |
It would take at least two years so the | 0:06:05 | 0:06:09 | |
process would be probably that we go to one blast and we will see how | 0:06:09 | 0:06:13 | |
they are operating and compare the economics. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:16 | |
If it can't make heavy steel production work at Port | 0:06:16 | 0:06:19 | |
Talbot, Liberty is still interested in parts of the site as well as | 0:06:19 | 0:06:22 | |
others. | 0:06:22 | 0:06:25 | |
The Business Secretary has been meeting Tata bosses in Mumbai. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:29 | |
The sales process begins in earnest on Monday. | 0:06:29 | 0:06:33 | |
A man has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving | 0:06:33 | 0:06:36 | |
after a father and son died last December. | 0:06:36 | 0:06:40 | |
Stuart Bates and his seven-year-old son, Fraser, were killed | 0:06:40 | 0:06:43 | |
as they crossed this carriageway near Talbot Green | 0:06:43 | 0:06:46 | |
in Rhondda Cynon Taf. | 0:06:46 | 0:06:48 | |
22-year-old Joshua Staples from Tonyrefail has | 0:06:48 | 0:06:50 | |
been bailed until May. | 0:06:50 | 0:06:54 | |
Welsh Anglican bishops have ruled out an attempt to change the law | 0:06:54 | 0:06:57 | |
to allow same-sex couples to marry in church. | 0:06:57 | 0:07:01 | |
The Archbishop of Wales says there's concern the issue | 0:07:01 | 0:07:03 | |
could tear the church apart. | 0:07:03 | 0:07:04 | |
Welsh bishops have though unreservedly apologised to gay | 0:07:04 | 0:07:06 | |
and lesbian churchgoers for the way they've been treated. | 0:07:06 | 0:07:16 | |
and lesbian churchgoers for the way they've been treated. | 0:07:16 | 0:07:16 | |
There is no point in doing something for it to fail. | 0:07:18 | 0:07:23 | |
You need a body of people behind you and we need them | 0:07:23 | 0:07:26 | |
to do it happily and graciously and joyously rather | 0:07:26 | 0:07:29 | |
than half-heartedly. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:31 | |
And I hope that that will eventually happen. | 0:07:31 | 0:07:34 | |
Newport Gwent Dragons chief executive Stuart Davies says | 0:07:34 | 0:07:37 | |
the announcement of sale plans is the start of the process | 0:07:37 | 0:07:41 | |
in attracting new investors. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:43 | |
The region is seeking new investment to take over shares currently | 0:07:43 | 0:07:48 | |
held 50-50 by the WRU and Newport Rugby Club. | 0:07:48 | 0:07:52 | |
They don't have any parties lined up but Davies has described it | 0:07:52 | 0:07:55 | |
as an exciting opportunity. | 0:07:55 | 0:08:00 | |
Let's get the weather forecast now with Derek Brockway. | 0:08:00 | 0:08:04 | |
Hello. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:06 | |
Just when you thought spring had arrived, it feels | 0:08:06 | 0:08:08 | |
more like winter again, and that's the story for tomorrow. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:11 | |
Winds from the Arctic bring in more showers. | 0:08:11 | 0:08:14 | |
Tonight, windy with showers, heavy in places, hail | 0:08:14 | 0:08:17 | |
and thunder possible and snow on the hills and mountains. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:21 | |
Gale force winds in the north-west with temperatures | 0:08:21 | 0:08:24 | |
staying above freezing. | 0:08:24 | 0:08:26 | |
Tomorrow, rain across North and mid Wales will spread its way | 0:08:26 | 0:08:29 | |
southwards, sleet and snow on some of the hills and mountains | 0:08:29 | 0:08:32 | |
with fresh to strong winds, making it feel cold. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:36 | |
Across the rest of the UK, a band of rain will spread southwards, | 0:08:36 | 0:08:40 | |
breaking up into showers. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:42 | |
Elsewhere, sunny spells and showers, heavy showers | 0:08:42 | 0:08:45 | |
for the north-east of England. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:47 | |
South-east Scotland, hail and thunder possible. | 0:08:47 | 0:08:50 | |
Fewer showers in Northern Ireland in the afternoon. | 0:08:50 | 0:08:52 | |
Feeling cold and windy. | 0:08:52 | 0:08:55 | |
Top temperatures 10 Celsius in Liverpool, 12 in London. | 0:08:55 | 0:08:59 | |
Close to home, still a few showers tomorrow afternoon but some drier, | 0:08:59 | 0:09:03 | |
brighter spells as well, a little sunshine. | 0:09:03 | 0:09:06 | |
Temperatures not great. | 0:09:06 | 0:09:08 | |
The winds slowly easing. | 0:09:08 | 0:09:09 | |
Highs 8-11dC. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:12 | |
Tomorrow night, still a few showers about but generally looking | 0:09:12 | 0:09:15 | |
drier, some clear spells. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
The wind falling light and chilly. | 0:09:17 | 0:09:20 | |
Friday promises to be a better day but it won't last. | 0:09:20 | 0:09:26 | |
This frontal system over Ireland is heading our way. | 0:09:26 | 0:09:29 | |
So dry and bright for a while on Friday, some sunshine, | 0:09:29 | 0:09:32 | |
light winds, but rain will spread across the country | 0:09:32 | 0:09:35 | |
during the afternoon and evening. | 0:09:35 | 0:09:37 | |
And it's looking very mixed for the weekends. | 0:09:37 | 0:09:40 | |
Some sunshine on Saturday together with a few heavy showers. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:44 | |
Most of Sunday dry with a freshening south-easterly wind but rain may | 0:09:44 | 0:09:49 | |
reach the South on Sunday evening. | 0:09:49 | 0:09:54 | |
That's Wales Today. | 0:09:54 | 0:09:58 | |
From all of us on the programme, goodnight. | 0:09:58 | 0:10:02 |