Mims Davies MP was thrilled to be welcomed in the Chamber yesterday by the speaker for the first time as Secretary of State for Wales, speaking on the Tata steal deal.
Mims lived in Wales for nearly a decade, as well as studying and working in Wales and her love for the area is enduring.
Mims Davies MP said:
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
At the outset, as I come to the Dispatch Box for the first time in this role for Wales questions, may I please pay tribute to my former private secretary in the Wales Office, Debbie John, who was taken at a tender age due to pancreatic cancer? She and her family are in my thoughts today as I take up this role.
She is much missed and very fondly remembered.
The right hon. Lady clearly needs to acknowledge to the House that the deal for Tata steel recently re-announced by her UK Government is identical to the one negotiated by my right hon. Friend the Member for North West Essex (Mrs Badenoch), who is now Leader of the Opposition.
Mims continued:
I am delighted that the right hon. Lady has read the deal that we wrote, but the facts are simple: despite the protesting, this is the same deal that was previously negotiated by the last Conservative Government, involving the same amount of money to build the electric arc furnace and the same cash for the transition board.
It is ludicrous for her or others to continue to claim that no support was in place and that it somehow appeared when she found it down the back of the sofa.
She is fully aware that the cash had been sitting there the whole time.
Perhaps an apology is needed for that, and for claiming that Port Talbot supplies the defence industry with materials.
