Ford's Bridgend Engine Plant

Part of Emergency Question – in the Senedd at 1:42 pm on 11 June 2019.

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Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 1:42, 11 June 2019

Can I thank Bethan for her questions and say how much I share her anger and the anger of workers? And I won't apologise for the veracity of my immediate response last week on hearing of this news. Workers do feel betrayed, do feel incredibly badly let down and, yes, the irony of the timing of the announcement was certainly not lost on many people.

I think it's fair to say that Ford need to recognise the loyalty and the commitment of the workforce and the community with a very substantial legacy investment, not just in the workers but in the community as well. And in order to encourage them to consider a substantial legacy investment, I and the Secretaries of State in UK Government will jointly be writing to Ford, urging them to invest a considerable sum of money in the community and in those who will be affected. That will form part of a package of investments. There is, of course, a role for Welsh Government. Of that there is no doubt, and we are already looking at how we can support not just the individuals and the businesses in the supply chain, and the many businesses on the high street that could suffer as a consequence, but also how we can assist the place itself—Bridgend—making sure that if there are investment-ready schemes that would contribute to economic growth and to stimulate economic growth between now and September 2020, then we will invest when and wherever we can. 

But there is also a role for the local authority, of course, in identifying similar schemes and supporting those schemes alongside us, and, crucially, a role for the UK Government, in particular through the UK industrial strategy. Yesterday and, indeed, on Friday, I discussed with the Secretary of State for BEIS the opportunities that could come through in particular the Faraday challenge and the sector deals, and the Secretary of State for BEIS is working incredibly close with us. His officials are in if not hourly then certainly daily contact with our officials in the Welsh Government to identify opportunities for investment. 

Bethan raised the important point of diversifying the economy of Wales, and we now have a record number of businesses. I was telling journalists just this morning that in any given week the Welsh economy loses around about 2,000 jobs, but, during that same period of time, the Welsh economy creates just over 2,000 jobs, and that's why we have such low levels of unemployment and low levels of economic inactivity. Diversification of employment, the economy, is taking place, but the economic action plan was specifically designed to empower and to enable business in Wales to adapt to the new realities of automation, to address the challenges of industry 4.0 and to address the need to reduce carbon emissions. And that is why, within the economic contract, one of the four criteria concerns decarbonisation and that's why one of the five calls to action concerns decarbonisation as well. We are already supporting many, many businesses in their endeavours to become more modern in the way that they operate, and we will go on doing so. We've already seen more than 200 businesses sign up to the economic contract. We are encouraging and enabling businesses to modernise their practices, there is a hunger and a desire out there in the business community to adapt to the new reality, and we will go on working with them. And in particular, we will work with them in the Bridgend area, where they can, and I am confident they will, create new employment opportunities.