Details of a task force from the Welsh Government to deal with the impact from the closure of the Ford factory in Bridgend have been revealed.
Ken Skates, the Minister for Economy and Transport, said the Welsh Government would establish a taskforce “to work with national and local partners to help find a sustainable, long term solution for the plant, its work force and the wider community”.
Yesterday he outlined the three main themes of the taskforce;
- People: focusing on the people working at Ford Bridgend and within the Engine Plant’s supply chains to ensure they are supported throughout the consultation and in the future.
- Potential: focusing on the long term potential for the site by attracting new investment to secure the future of the site and the skills of the workforce.
- Place: focusing on the wider impact on the community and securing a resilient future for local area and wider region.
“The focus on ‘place’ represents an additional and vital component of previous Taskforce models we have deployed following announcements of this nature” said Mr Skates.
“I have asked the local member for Bridgend and former First Minister, Carwyn Jones AM, to oversee this work to prepare Bridgend and the wider community for life after September 2020. I have also spoken to key partners about the membership and remit of the Taskforce which will be finalised very shortly.
"It will be chaired by a prominent figure from the automotive sector, jointly sponsored by myself and the Secretary of State for Wales and will include representation from the Welsh Government, Office of the Secretary of State for Wales, BEIS, Trade Unions, local authorities, and others. Clearly, open and regular collaboration with Ford, at all levels is absolutely vital to this process.
“I want the Taskforce to work closely with supply chain companies in the area to map the activity underway and to support interventions that will help companies whose business relies on Ford to survive this body blow.”
Mr Skates also stressed Ford’s role in the transition will be “pivotal”.
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“I will be writing to the Company in the coming days, alongside the 海角视频 Government, to set out our expectations of how Ford must support the community it has been a key part of for the past four decades,” Mr Skates said.
“I will be clear that it is essential that we work with the company to secure a significant legacy for the whole community including those within the supply chain. That legacy should reflect the enormous contribution of workers, the community and the tax payers over many years.
“The impact that Ford’s announcement has had, and will continue to have, on the people living and working in Bridgend must be at the forefront of all our efforts. I am determined to ensure that all parties work together in our efforts to deliver a sustainable future. The Taskforce will be the focal point for these efforts and I will provide more detail on its membership and Terms of Reference shortly.”
The Conseravtive MP for Stafford Jeremy Lefroy, who was as a foreman at the plant in the 1980s, has called on the 海角视频 Government to do “everything in its power” to protect the 1,700 jobs at the Ford engine plant.
“I will never forget the incredibly warm welcome I was given by my working colleagues at Ford in Bridgend when I started their as a foreman in 1980, just a short time after it was opened,” Mr Lefroy said.
“It is with huge sadness that I see this and that’s why I would urge the Secretary of State to do everything in his power - and I see his right honourable colleague the Business Secretary is next door to him - in their power to ensure that this factory continues whether with Ford or indeed anybody else.”
He added: “It is absolutely vital. It is a great site, it has runway links, it has motorway links. This must be a site that employs at least 1,700 people in the future if not more in high-quality manufacturing. It deserves it.”
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Responding for the Government, Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns said the factory is “one of the most efficient plants in Europe”.
He added: “That equally will provide a great opportunity to attract further investment to that area because of the skills and assets it brings amongst the workforce themselves but also amongst the attractiveness of the site.”
Mr Cairns denied the potential closure is due to Brexit - and is instead about the “challenging conditions right across the automotive sector”.
He said the fact the car company might move manufacturing out of Europe to Mexico “underlines that this is not a decision about Brexit”.
He told MPs: “I’m not going to understate what a bitter blow this is to the 1,700 skilled and dedicated workers at Ford at Bridgend and their families.
“I live close by and absolutely understand the importance of this plant to the local community.”
But he said job losses within Ford “are also taking place in Europe as well, there have been 5,000 in Germany as well as job losses and shift changes in Spain”.
Labour’s shadow Wales secretary Christina Rees said the news is “disastrous for all concerned”.
She added: “Yet again the chaos caused by the Tory government’s calamitous handling of Brexit coupled with the Secretary of State’s continuing inability to stand up for Wales has allowed Ford to deliver a hammer blow to the workers in Bridgend and the Welsh economy.”
She also attacked Ford for a “betrayal of the loyal and hard-working staff”, saying it needs to “urgently reverse this treacherous decision” rather than “chasing profit via cheaper markets in places like Mexico and India”.
She added that Ford was “just the latest in a long list of companies including Airbus, Nissan, Honda and Jaguar Land Rover who have halted investment or cut jobs or are closing as a direct result of this uncertainty”.
SNP Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) asked if there had been a supply chain impact assessment and what funding guarantees could be given.
He said: “When will this Government rule out a no-deal Brexit to stop any further job losses in the manufacturing sector?”
Labour’s Stephen Kinnock (Aberavon) said: “This Government is a driverless vehicle and has been a driverless vehicle for the last three years.
“Its botched Brexit and general incompetence has seen confidence draining away from the automotive sector.”
Tory Sir John Redwood (Wokingham) called on the Government to review the “very high vehicle excise duties it’s imposed, the squeeze on car loans and the regulatory uncertainty about buying new petrol and diesels because these are all factors that have done a lot of damage to demand and output in the 海角视频 car industry”.