Part of 4. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:55 pm on 16 October 2019.
Can I thank the Minister for his answers thus far and just explore a couple of issues perhaps in a little bit more depth? Obviously, the Hi-Lex cable system plant in Baglan is on Baglan energy park, and you might find a couple of Assembly Members' regional offices on Baglan energy park as well; Bethan Sayed and I share an office not far from this company.
So, yes, it's a car parts plant, it supplies Ford and Honda, it makes cables, windows and door parts for cars, and today's announcement, as you've said, says that it will close in Baglan when the Honda plant closes in Swindon in two years' time. The plant, obviously, in Baglan closes, but the production won't cease; the production will be transferred to Hungary, which remains in the EU at that point. Now, obviously, this is, as you've alluded, an extremely disappointing decision from Hi-Lex today, and is yet another blow, as Dai Rees has said, to the economy of the region, so soon after the news that Ford in Bridgend will be closing too, and they also supply Ford.
Now, once upon a time, south Wales was the catalyst for the industrial revolution and was the world's manufacturer at one point. And now we are seeing yet another multinational corporation let down their loyal Welsh workforce and move production elsewhere, this time to Hungary. It's devastating news for the 125 workers and their families in Baglan and further afield. Time and again, we have seen jobs being lost in South Wales West, and indeed elsewhere in Wales, because the Welsh Government is failing to drive innovation in industries that simply have no choice but to innovate if they want to survive.
We know all about the changes in car production that need to happen, but other Governments have managed innovative change, like in Ottawa in Canada, where the Ontario and Canadian Governments co-invested in a new Ford research and development centre there, working on autonomous vehicles. There is change in car production—new cars, different cars in the future. It doesn't mean that the industries here have to be ossified in what they've always done. That Canadian centre opened earlier this year with more than 300 jobs.
Back to Baglan, according to the announcement, no jobs will go for the next 12 months—the plant is allegedly going to stay open until 2021—so, on the face of it, there is time to plan. I hear what you're saying about ReAct, but usually in these sort of circumstances we have an announcement that so many hundreds of jobs are going at whatever plant there is, and that is it—three months, everything shuts. That's not the situation in this particular case, so can I just explore with the Minister in perhaps greater detail, so the plans—? We do have time here to plan for the future of workers here in Baglan, because the jobs are going to carry on for 12 months, according to management. So, how are we planning a smoother transition so that we keep those jobs here in south Wales, and perhaps expanding on the idea of not just more retraining and everything and a refocus for workers, but obviously trying to develop a vision of what an automotive plant is going to be in Wales: are we still going to be doing car parts, and, if so, for what sort of cars? Are we going to innovate or are we just going to stand by and watch successive car plants like this close day by day? I'm just trying to secure a long-term vision here from the Minister. Diolch yn fawr.