1. Urgent Question: Ford in Bridgend

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 1:41 pm on 1 March 2017.

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Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 1:41, 1 March 2017

Can I thank the Member for her questions and reiterate the point that was made to me—the assurance that was given to me by Ford’s vice-president—that there are no employment risks today? But we’ve always known that the risk is longer term for Ford in Bridgend. From 2021, the challenge is in finding new products that can be manufactured at the plant. In recent months, we’ve been assured by Ford that they’re looking at a range of opportunities that can be brought to Bridgend. What I wish to see now is greater detail about what those opportunities are—what it is that Ford is actually looking at specifically and how they’re going about attracting the investment to the Bridgend plant. And, for that reason, I intend meeting with the vice-president again and also with union leaders, because it’s my firm belief that we do our best when we work together as a team. I think Ford have proven in Bridgend that when you have a proactive Government and when you have a positive, proactive unionised workforce, you can produce the best goods imaginable. We need to make sure that that relationship between the workforce and the company and Welsh Government remains strong. But, crucially, we have to ensure that Ford identify the new products and that’s the reason why I will be placing more pressure on them to bring forward detail about what opportunities they are talking about actually materialising.