After much delay and speculation, and after several different Secretaries of State had taken up and left their roles, the UK Government has finally announced that it is blocking the sale of Newport Wafer Fab to Nexperia.

The decision, particularly the way in which it was announced on the eve of the autumn statement, has put hundreds of highly-skilled jobs at risk and imperilled the stability of the sector as a whole.

Last week, after meeting with staff and management at Newport Wafer Fab, I was able to secure an Urgent Question in the House of Commons to question the Secretary of State for Business for answers on many of the pressing concerns people here in Newport and the wider Gwent area have regarding the decision.

When I asked Grant Shapps why he hadn’t visited the Newport Wafer Fab site, he refused to provide an answer.

When I asked what efforts he and his department had made to assess the impact of his government’s decision, he refused to provide an answer.

Question after question, time after time, this government has failed to provide any clarity or reassurances to staff at Newport Wafer Fab about the security of their jobs and have failed to quell broader uncertainty that’s gripping the sector as a whole as a result of this decision.

Staff at Newport Wafer Fab have faced months on end of uncertainty at the hands of the UK government at a time of unprecedented economic hardship. The government has had every opportunity to plan for this moment, to provide certainty to the sector and to ensure jobs are safeguarded - but it hasn’t.

As things stand, we’re at risk of losing hundreds of highly-skilled jobs in Newport, with the rest of our world-leading semiconductor cluster threatened by the way this decision has been handled too.

Real people’s livelihoods are at threat here, and they deserve better than the shoddy way the UK government has handled the situation.

We all know the legacy in Wales of previous Conservative governments, just ask former miners.

We cannot afford another community to be decimated by their callous disregard for ordinary people’s livelihoods and wellbeing.

Myself and my colleagues across Gwent and South Wales will continue to do all we can to support staff at Newport Wafer Fab in their fight to save their jobs.