Welsh Assembly Election 2016: 04/04/2016 Party Election Broadcasts: Welsh Labour Party

Hello. As First Minister of Wales, I believe it's my duty

to be straight with people,

especially when things are difficult and the news isn't great.

That's why I wanted to use tonight's broadcast

to talk about the steel crisis.

And even though there's an election around the corner

I'm not here to play one side off against the other.

I just want to tell you how it is.

As a Labour government,

we've been working with Tata Steel for many years.

And we've helped bring in hundreds of millions of pounds

of investment into Wales,

safeguarding thousands of good, well-paid jobs over a long period.

Now that work is under threat.

There's a steel crisis in the UK, and Tata want to sell.

We've been working hard behind the scenes for months

to try to prevent a closure,

but there's still uncertainty and threat to the plants

across Wales - Port Talbot, Shotton, Trostre, and Llanwern -

and now we need the UK government to help out,

because when the banks went bust

the UK government was there to pick up the pieces.

Now there's a moral, economic and strategic case

to see the same kind of response for our steel producers.

You know, I grew up just a few miles away from one of those plants,

and I know how the community is shaped by the industry

and the people who work there.

But this isn't about the past, it's about the future,

and steel must have a future in Wales and the UK.

It would be a strategic disaster

to become a country that doesn't produce its own steel.

Are we seriously contemplating a future where the UK spends billions

on its armed services but where we lack the material

to produce a single ship or plane ourselves?

And let's face it,

we're talking about a modern works producing world-class product.

With the right support, we can get through this tough period.

And we can't be distracted by those who want to use this crisis

as a stick to beat the EU.

We need a grown-up response to a serious problem.

So, yes, things are tough, the task ahead is complicated

and it'll be hard to achieve a good result.

But we're leaving no stone unturned in our quest to secure

a sustainable future for our steel communities here in Wales.

I've just come off the phone to Tata's head office in Mumbai,

stressing the need for time to find a buyer for the Welsh plants

and reminding them of their responsibility to the workers

and the areas they operate in.

I'll shortly be meeting the Prime Minister

to impress on him the need for us

to find a solution for our steel industry.

Because never has our slogan, "Together for Wales",

meant so much.