Can I thank Carwyn Jones for his questions? I agree with everything that he's said about the way that Ford have treated the workforce. Of course, this facility has been at the very heart of the south Wales economy since the late 1970s, built in 1978 with taxpayers' support to house what was then called 'project Erika', the components that would feed into that particular vehicle. A hundred and forty three million pounds has been spent assisting Ford over the years, more than £60 million since 2006 alone. It is, as Carwyn Jones rightly said, a massive blow to the entire community. And in response to it, we will be going further than we would normally go with a taskforce approach, and I'll come to that in a moment. 

I expressed forcefully my view that Ford had badly let down the workforce and the people of the entire region and country in making the decision in the way that it made it, without due regard to the well-being and welfare of not just 1,700-plus people working at the site, but the entire community, and without engaging with the UK or Welsh Governments on alternatives, as they had been doing until very recently.

Carwyn Jones raised the important question of Brexit in this regard. I can assure him that I raised this question with Ford, and I was told that whilst it was not the dominant factor in their deliberations, it was nonetheless extremely unhelpful and had increased their vulnerability. And they spoke in particular about the issue of frictionless trade at borders and how that could be ended with, in particular, a 'no deal' Brexit. And we only need to reflect back as well on their consistent message, from October last year, when they said that a 'no deal' Brexit would be devastating. Now, I'm pleased to see that the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, who has been of great assistance since Thursday, has this morning confirmed in questions that companies in the sector have been crystal clear—that we need to leave the European Union with a deal that allows us to continue to trade without frictions. And he goes on to say about the opportunities that could be had if that can be secured.

Carwyn Jones also raises the important question about pensions. I had a conference call yesterday with trade unions, with the local authority, with the Secretary of State for BEIS, the Secretary of State for Wales, and we agreed that there would have to be immediate assistance in the form of financial advisers for the workforce. And I also asked that the regulator get involved in this matter as soon as possible. We wish to keep the sharks from Bridgend, and therefore immediate assistance is required.

I can assure the Member that we will do everything in our power to support those who will be affected by this decision. Our approach, as I said earlier, will be threefold. We will focus on the people who will be affected, as we always do, with a taskforce intervention, looking at opportunities, looking at their skills needs. But we will also put a particular focus on the potential of the site, examining every option to attract investment in. And we will work with BEIS, with the Department for International Trade and with the Wales Office in order to secure alternative employment.

However, there will be a third strand to our work, which will include place. My recollections of growing up in Flintshire during the 1980s and during the 1990s have informed this decision. For the first few years after 8,500 people lost their jobs at Shotton steelworks, there was money in circulation—there were many new cars, many retail outlets did very well. But, from the mid 1980s, through the 1990s, and even to this day, challenges emerged that have scarred that entire community. And we will not allow Bridgend to go through what, sadly, Deeside went through in the 1980s and 1990s. And that is why I have determined that we have to have a particular piece of work, looking at how we can stimulate the economy of Bridgend between now and September of 2020, how we can stabilise businesses that rely so heavily on Ford, how we can support the supply chain not just within the automotive sector, but those many small, medium, and micro-sized businesses that rely on the money that Ford puts into the community, and how we can make the entire community investment ready. There is no doubt that this will have dealt a terrible blow in terms of the community's pride and dignity, but we will work side by side with the local authority, with Cardiff city deal, with BEIS, the Wales Office, with other partners, in ensuring that Bridgend has alternative employment, employment of the highest quality, that is well paid.