20/04/2016 BBC Wales Today

of Tata's UK plants could be supported by workers

and steelmaking communities across Wales, if it goes ahead.

I think it could be expanded, not only to the workforce but to the

communities, to the families, to the retired steelworkers who spent their

lives working in the Port Talbot plant.

Ian Thomas is back in work after ten years.

Unemployment here is now at its lowest rate

kidnapped and beat another man and forced him to work

And we're in Machynlleth, the third stop

on our tour of Wales, ahead of the election

We'll be finding out why living in the countryside

Unions say plans for a management buyout of Tata Steel,

led by the man who runs its site at Port Talbot, could provide

It's understood the deal would mean steel production continues in Wales,

Our Business Correspondent Brian Meechan has more.

Stuart Wilkie has years of experience in the steel industry.

He has had senior roles including at

Ebbw Vale before then owners Corus closed it in 2002.

When Tata Steel bought that, and the company 's

other Welsh steel plants, he went on to run Llanwern,

part of which was mothballed last year and Port

In January, he told us he hoped the 750 job losses at the site

We are very confident as owners and a workforce that we believe

we actually can turn this industry around.

But a Welsh delegation that headed to Mumbai for a crucial board

meeting discovered that was not to be under Tata's leadership.

Having invested heavily here, Tata Steel finally lost patience.

It decided that the high energy costs and business rates in the UK

and the cheap Chinese steel imports were problems that were never

It took a look at the survival plan put forward by Stuart Wilkie

and his team and decided ultimately that the idea of turning this around

in 18 months from loss making to profit was just too risky.

The government's involvement as a co-investor is going to be

vitally important in this and that will give confidence

to whether investors who might need to be brought in to provide

the funding that the company is going to need.

What is different now is that the UK Government is prepared to co-invest

with partners and that could include help with energy costs

The Welsh Government is also making more than ?60 million available.

We have got to think about what this means in terms of Welsh jobs,

the Welsh economy and the fact that it is not just the people

employed in Port Talbot and Llanwern and Trostre.

It is also what it means to the overall economy.

A management buyout would mean bosses and workers investing

And some say they would be happy to do that.

I think it could be expanded, not only to the workforce

but to the communities, the families, the retired

steelworkers who spent their lives working in the Port Talbot plant.

Welcome to 2016, a New Year, a new beginning for all of us

The boss of Liberty Steel in Newport, Sanjeev Gupta

is the only other potential buyer to publicly declare an interest.

That would bring an end to making steel from scratch at Port Talbot.

The management buyout plan would see steel-making remain as it is now,

I think it would be very difficult and let's be honest about that

but that is what should be at the heart of any future

for Tata Steel in the UK, so I am delighted.

The two governments, workers and unions seem to be

welcoming the proposals for a management buyout.

It has certainly added to the options on the table.

Brian is in Port Talbot for us tonight.

How could this management buyout work? Well, we talk about the

survival plan that was rejected ultimately by Tata Steel in Mumbai

and that was certainly the case. However, it has been implemented

here anyway and they say that they are already seeing ultimately some

of the benefits of that. They are seeing better production and they

think when it comes down to it, that will make them much better in terms

of going to the marketplace and trying to get someone to buy into

it. In terms of the management eye out, it has to be treated like any

other buyer. There cannot be any of the special privileges for the

management buyout teams. But we do know the UK governorate is ready and

willing to invest here and we know that the Welsh Government is willing

to invest that 60 million that it has talked about and if they can

find a way to get money from the workers and put that money together

with what the governments are offering, especially on energy costs

and dealing with energy costs, they think they would have enough money

there to get this place back on a solid footing using that am but of

course it is incredibly difficult. This is not going to be easy. And it

is not as straightforward as they would like. I do get the sense

talking to people today, listening to them talk about this management

buyout, there is a sense of optimism and a greater sense of optimism and

has been here for a while. Unemployment in Wales has fallen

to its lowest rate since the global recession and is now lower

than the UK average. The number of people

who were unemployed in Wales fell by 5,000 between December

and February, while Ian Thomas works on the dairy

section of his local But for almost a decade,

the 53-year-old was unemployed. He suffered from epilepsy and gained

five stone in weight. But with his illness now under

control, a scheme run by his local authority helped him back

into the labour market I was here for a few months

and Tesco kept me on. I put on the weight from not working

and working on the dairy section with great colleagues,

I lost the weight and my health is a lot better and it meant

a lot to me and my family The unemployment figure in Wales

now stands at 76,000, that is a fall of 5000

between December and February. 5% of our workforce is now

unemployed, marginally below the UK On the face of it of course,

as a headline figure and a headline It is the first time in a few years

that this has been At the same time, I think

there are some challenges that the quality of the jobs created

are ones which perhaps not as high valued as we would like

and we all so have a higher than average for the UK level

of economic activity. Today's figures also show that Wales

saw a bigger fall in unemployment than any other part of the UK

in the last three months. But dark clouds hang over

the economic horizon with steel With unemployment so low,

it is small wonder that both the UK and the Welsh governments

are trying to claim the credit and with the latest figures coming

in the middle of an assembly election campaign, where the economy

is centrestage, all the political parties are trying to convince

the voters that their policies will help when the jobless total

down even further. And for more on that story

and what the political parties have to say on a variety of issues before

the Assembly Election, including The body of a man from Wrexham,

who'd been missing in Harry Greaves disappeared

earlier this month, after setting off on a solo hike,

two days before his 29th birthday. A jury has been hearing from a man

who claims he was bought, Michael Hughes told

Cardiff Crown Court that prison was like a holiday camp compared

with the life he had Mr Connors and three other men

are accused of forced labour. Patrick Joseph Connor arriving for

the start of the trial. Today he was accused of buying a man and forcing

him to work against his will. The court heard from Michael Hughes,

originally from Scotland, who came to Wales looking for work. It told

the court how often accept and work tarmac in, he believes he was sold

by one man to Patrick Joseph Connors. But at that time, he said

he believed his luck was about to change, that he would get regular

work and a place to live. In fact what followed he said was hard

labour with little or no pay. He said he spent two years living in a

wooden shed just big enough to lie down in. Until it rotted. He worked

seven days a week and was beaten if his work was not up to standard. At

one point, he said he ran away to Scotland but within days, but it

Joseph Connors had tracked him down. As he went to the dole office in

Aberdeen, you was kidnapped and bundled into the boot of a car and

driven back to Cardiff. Once back, he was beaten. When police phoned Mr

Connah's Quay said he was ordered to say it was all a joke. When

interviewed by police, Patrick Joseph Connors denied any

wrongdoing. He has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of assault,

four of kidnap, one of conspiracy to kidnap. All four defendants are

charged with forced labour and all four deny all the charges against

them. The case continues. Our tour around Wales,

ahead of the Assembly election, No better place to talk

power and politics, though don't mention Cardiff Bay

in these parts because in this town theyll tell you the first welsh

parliament met right here. This is a market town

serving a huge area. On a day like today,

tourists come from far and wide But two weeks off from the election,

what about the political landscape? One of the most historic

towns in Wales. Machynlleth, the most Westerly town

in the constituency of Montgomeryshire,

in the heart of the Mid These are all hand decorated in

Wales. It currently has a Conservative

Assembly Member and MP, but the past has been

rooted in Liberalism. The Lib Dems will be fighting hard

to sell their wares and overturn In the last Assembly election,

turnout across Mid and West Wales Here in Montgomeryshire nearly

half voted. In neighbouring Ceredigion,

the Liberals are also hoping There, Plaid's majority is one

of the smallest in Wales, are pounding the pavements

across this region. Labour, Conservative,

Plaid Cymru, Lib Dems, Ukip and the Green Party see this

part of Wales as their chance This is the Owain Glyndwr Centre,

considered to be the site where the first Welsh parliament met

to discuss the future of Wales. It's the recent past that's grabbed

the headlines today, As you heard earlier,

unemployment in Wales has fallen to below the UK rate for the first

time in years. But in this area

wages are still low. Our economics correspondent

Sarah Dickins now on the challenges of finding well paid

work in rural wales. Amid the beautiful rolling hills,

manufacturing has long been an important part of mid Wales

but the types of Here in Newtown, the big employer

has left and this old factory site In Powys, 90% of firms have fewer

than nine workers. Laundry for hotels,

holiday lets and families, after eight years there are now

five women working here This type of business

is typical of rural Wales. Behind all the doors,

you will find a different And some are small and some

are large, it is hard to tell until you open the door

and have a look inside. It sounds like a lot

of the work in this area then Yes, there is and really much scope

for anything more. Before Bea Jones moved into town,

she struggled to get to work in Newtown by bus from her home

five miles away. Sometimes, they don't turn up

at all, so it can be difficult. It is quite a walk to take

along the main roads, so you have to walk along the canal

and that is about an There are a lot of people working

in Powys, in fact unemployment here is half the rate

that it is for Wales as a whole. Those people working are likely

to be taking home less pay. On average, wages here are ?60

a week less than the And they are twice as likely to be

self-employed and what that means is that they won't have the benefits

of holiday pay and sick pay. Just outside Welshpool,

a Welsh owned company In 18 years, this firm has gone

from three local men in a shared to a firm employing 170 people

and a turnover of ?24 million. Their electronic drives make motors

that are energy-efficient and can be found in a host of

different industries. So how do we help more Welsh

firms develop into big I am the son of a Welsh farmer

and now we run a electronics, It is confidence to look out

and using the skills of our local people, then mixed with confidence,

how good-looking, there is no reason why others cannot follow

what we have done. And the advantage to the Welsh

economy of firms like this is they tend to pay higher wages

that get spent locally. So if most people who can

are working, what is needed? That would keep younger people

in the area. That is what we need

is to have the younger folk It is a shame because rural

areas are just getting lost, all the old people

are buying the houses. And that is the challenge,

the more better paid workers there are in a community,

the more high spenders, the better it is for a range

of local businesses and the economy So what are the parties offering

when it comes to supporting economy Nine out of ten businesses in this

area into a fewer than ten people and so there are some economic

policies that really do make a difference for those smaller kinds

of businesses. One of them is business rates and all of the

parties really agree that business rates for small businesses should be

cut. They just vary on the amounts that they would. And then there is

other incentives that can help, for instance on activity. Superfast Lord

Barnett and good mobile coverage. The Conservatives are offering more

promising if you like to have universal everyone having good

broadband and good mobile signal by 2019. Labour is saying 96% of

properties by 2017. And bubble that as well, there are things like what

Plaid Cymru are calling re-localisation. Spending more money

on the local committee. The Lib Dems want specific rule apprenticeships.

And Ukip is wanting to give more power to local people to decide

things like new supermarkets or solar farms. And good jobs news

today but there is a bug. Yes, it is good news because this is the first

time for two years that we have lower unemployment in Wales than the

UK average and it is the lowest and implement figures that we have had

in Wales since the recession in 2008. We do need to remember here in

Powys, wage rates are about ?6 per week less than the UK average and

the UK is about ?6 per week lower than... Wales is lower than the UK.

We have lots of jobs but they are not high value and they're not

bringing good wages home. We are fairly low in terms of productivity.

That is the challenge really. We have the jobs but it is about making

them more valuable to individuals and to the economy.

Well, in the days until we all go to the polls, the leaders

of the five larger political parties, along with the Greens,

will be doing all they can to win your vote.

Tonight, for the first time in this campaign,

they will all be in the same room for a TV debate.

Our political editor Nick Servini is there.

That is right. It is the first of two televised debates. Carwyn Jones

from Labour has just arrived. He will be up against Andrew RT Davies

for the Conservatives, Leanne Wood of the Liberal Democrats, Kirsty

Williams, Nathan Geller and Alice August out for the Greens. I am

expert in quite a lively affair. Most of those politicians took part

in the debates last week and be busy Wells in which they were on their

own in front of a studio audience. In that respect, they should be

battle hardened, sharp and ready to go. We have already had all the

manifestos. Oldman expect anything new on the policy front. This will

be about the interaction between the leaders. Order by Sue Green Ritalin

a fine. Look of the personal chemistry between them. One final

point, as has been a slightly strange; they in the sense that so

much of it is been about responding to external events. European

referendum, the steel crisis, of course, and tonight, a real

opportunity for all the leaders to stick their claim on prime-time

television on ITV for two hours and somehow get the assembly campaign

etched into the public concerts this. Something I think it has

struggled to do a bit so far. We've been asking throughout this

campaign - what you want from the next Welsh government

as part of My Manifesto 2016. Ian Fowler from Cardiff runs

a cocktail lounge and got in touch about issues

surrounding independent traders. What you would change

is you found yourself in power? Here's what's top of

Ian Fowler's wishlist. If I were First Minister,

I would make planning decisions fairer for

small independent businesses. Up and down the country,

independent traders have been feeling the pressure from the big

chains, and on Whitchurch High Street, we're

hearing the same story. Ian says the food and drinks sector

here is a crowded market. Whitchurch High Street was built

on the principle of having independent traders bringing jobs

and different types of businesses What we have found over

the last five to ten years, those independent businesses are

being crowded out by the corporates. It started life as a simple coffee

shop back in 2005 but to keep afloat It's now a restaurant

and cocktail lounge. The increase in competition

in the cafe sector Two years ago, a chain opened up

down the road, another It makes it extremely difficult

because their buying Naomi Gropetis is co-owner

of the business and knows the pitfalls of life

as an independent. I agree with the minimum wage,

I agree with the pensions We are getting absolutely battered

from every single angle. So when it comes to planning

what are the rules? Well, your local council can't

favour an application from an independent

business over a chain. The can offer grants to help small

businesses compete, for example, What would you change to make

life easier for smaller I would insist that planning

when they receive an application for a new premises, they actually

look at the individual company and make it a 50-50 split

between independent retail and corporate and make it fairer

for the smaller man. Tough times on the High Street,

but Ian hopes he's provided food And you can find out more

about what the parties are offering small businesses on the BBC Wales

news website. We still want your ideas

for My Manifesto. Lucy has been in Beaumaris

for a story we'll be bringing The Menai Strait looking beautiful

in the sunshine and this area relies heavily on attracting tourists,

especially since the closure of Anglesey Aluminium and the wind

down of Wylfa Nuclear Power Station. If I were First Minister,

I would be wanting to insure that all our young graduates have

jobs after university. If I were First Minister,

I would educate people to understand that raising taxes is necessary

to bring back key services. Tell us what you would do

if you were in charge of Wales. And after the votes are counted,

I will be passing on your ideas If you live there,

we'd love to see you. Rugby and it's been

announced tonight that Newport Gwent Dragons Director

of Rugby Lyn Jones has left his job. The region say it follows a period

away due to illness. Head coach Kingsley Jones

will take charge for The Dragons face a European

Challenge Cup semifinal In cricket, Glamorgan have

lost their opening Championship On the final day at the Swalec

Stadium, visitors Leicestershire wrapped up a comfortable 10 wicket

win. Time for a look at the

weather - Sue's here. It has been the warmest day of the

year so far across Wales. 19 Celsius. And we have more of the

same tomorrow. But after a very mild day, it will be a chilly night

across Wales. Temperatures dropping away under the clear skies. We could

see a few frost patches tomorrow morning. Some missed as well and

turning into another fine day across Wales. Some low-level cloud

developing from the south-west. The sunshine a little hazy at times. It

should remain dry. Slightly colder than today but as temperatures

remain quite high again. It is tomorrow night that we start to see

the change. We have a front that is pushing up from the south which

could bring some rain into South Wales. The cloud will hold up the

temperatures overnight between five and eight Celsius. On Friday, rain

moving up from the south. Drier in the North and it will turn colder

for the weekend. We will have the graphics again later.

And a reminder of our top story this evening, a union tells us

steelworkers in Port Talbot would be prepared to invest their own money

I'll have a quick update at 8pm and a full round up

From everyone on the programme, thanks for watching.