First Minister to meet Prime Minister and business leaders in day of talks

Carwyn Jones following last May's JMC meeting at the Cabinet Office in Whitehall Credit: Adrian Masters/ ITV News Wales

Multinational businesses which operate in Wales and are heavy users of energy will get chance to air concerns about the rising costs of energy when they meet the First Minister in London later.

Carwyn Jones is holding a summit with business leaders at the Welsh Government's London office.

It'll follow a meeting in Downing Street when the First Minister and leaders of the other devolved nations will discuss public spending with the Prime Minister.

The day of talks starts with a session of the Joint Ministerial Committee which brings together the leaders of the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland governments to give them chance to raise disagreements with the UK Government. Quite often they also disagree with each other too. Unusually, today's meeting will be held at Downing Street and chaired by the Prime Minister rather than his deputy.

Carwyn Jones has previously used these occasions to express concerns and criticism of the UK Government's spending cuts and to call for decision-making power over large renewable energy projects to be transferred to Wales. So what can David Cameron expect an earbashing over this time? A Welsh Government spokesperson said,

After the meeting in Downing Street, Carwyn Jones will host a summit with representatives from 'energy intensive' big businesses who operate in Wales. According to the Welsh Government, they'll include Tata Steel, Celsa Steel, UPM, Solutia, International Rectifier Corporation, Next Generation Data, Dow Corning and Murco Petroleum. A spokesman said,

You can expect more than a hint of criticism directed at David Cameron at this event as well as the earlier meeting. Speaking before the summit, the First Minister was clear that he blames the UK Government for the high cost of energy. He said,

Politically, Labour is promoting the two events as proof of the First Minister's efforts to do everything within his power to transform the economic fortunes of Wales. A Welsh Government source said: