Part of 3. 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:12 pm on 4 October 2017.
Obviously, this is bad news, particularly as there’s an escalation of the likelihood of production ending there. I’ve heard in your answers today and, to be fair, in the last six months, or even longer, that Ford and the auto industry is undergoing rapid change and that they continue to look for other high-tech opportunities for Bridgend. We’ve heard today that you’re very pleased with the conversations with Ford and attempts to gather information from around Europe and the rest of the world—I think that was a quote from earlier submissions here. This is all very encouraging, but I’m not actually getting a solid sense of when some specific commitment would be made by Ford. I do understand it’s Ford that needs to make it, rather than Welsh Government. At some point, are you putting pressure on Ford to say, ‘Actually, can you give us some sort of solid answer by a given date?’? I’m not suggesting what that date may be, but to bring some certainty into the process.
Secondly, I wonder if you’d be kind enough to answer a question that you didn’t answer that Bethan Jenkins put about the working group. Certainly, when the unions communicated with all relevant Assembly Members that this group was being set up, there was an indication that AMs would be involved in that, and I’m not sure whether that’s the case. I don’t know whether anyone in the Chamber has picked up on it.
And thirdly, I just want to raise again the issue of the city deal and the steel innovation centre. I know that this is down the road a little bit, so the timing is not perfect here, and obviously, the plant isn’t within the city deal area, but it is on the doorstep, and it’s a huge facility where the production of new automotive products using new materials, perhaps developed through the science centre—it’s an opportunity that can’t be overlooked. As I say, the timing isn’t fantastic on that, but to lose the expertise of this workforce with that on the horizon would be a serious blow, obviously, for those workers whose families are directly affected—and they’ve been treated very poorly during this process—but also to other families involved in the economy of this part of south Wales, as well. So, even though we’re talking about hybrid cars and so forth, there are other automotive opportunities that new materials can bring. Thank you.