THROUGHOUT this year, witnessing the Economy Minister appearing before the Senedd to announce job losses has become a worryingly frequent occurrence. With increasing regularity, he expresses his remorse and condolences, offering warm words and sympathies — but these are no substitute for concrete solutions.

In 2023 alone, we have seen employer after employer close their doors or speak of jobs at risk: more than 700 jobs lost on Ynys Mon after 2 Sisters Food Group announced it would be closing its poultry plant; Avara Foods in Abergavenny, 400 job losses; Tillery Valley Foods in Blaenau Gwent, 250 jobs lost; Zimmer Biomet in my home county of Bridgend, 540 jobs currently at risk, as are 500 in UK Windows and Doors in the Rhondda. A reported figure of approximately 3,000 at-risk jobs in Tata’s steelworks in Port Talbot still looms.

Time after time, we’re told that the administrators are in control of the situation, and how they seek to gain value is something out of the hands of the Welsh government. This is a position which leaves workers, the value creators in our society, without any long-term clarity.