Ford to close Bridgend plant in 2020 with loss of 1,700 jobs

Latest blow to UK car manufacturing sees US company shut ‘unsustainable’ engine plant in South Wales

(Getty)

Ford has confirmed it will close its factory in Bridgend in September 2020 with the loss of 1,700 jobs.

Stuart Rowley, the president of Ford of Europe, said he had had to take “difficult decisions” in order to make the business sustainable.

“We are committed to the UK; however, changing customer demand and cost disadvantages, plus an absence of additional engine models for Bridgend going forward make the plant economically unsustainable in the years ahead.”

He added: “We recognise the effects it would have on their families and the communities where they live and, as a responsible employer, we are proposing a plan that would help to ease the impact.”

It comes as another severe blow for Britain’s car industry which has seen manufacturers, including Nissan, Honda and Jaguar Land Rover, all scale back their operations in the face of Brexit uncertainty and a tough global market.

The number of cars built in the UK in April plummeted by almost half compared with a year ago, with the drop exacerbated by manufacturers bringing forward summer production stoppages in anticipation of a Brexit that was ultimately postponed.

Ford workers expressed surprise at how soon the decision to shut the Bridgend plant had been made.

Len Jones, 48, who has worked at the plant for seven-and-a-half years, said: "It's devastating. Everyone's got mortgages to pay and families to support.

"I expected a little more time to get things sorted.

"When we found out, everyone was just silent. They gave us letters and we just all went home.

"It's hard to take in really, even though we expected it. Now it's official, it's a bad thing, really."

One worker, who gave the name of Stephen, said: "When they came out with the statement, you just don't take it in do you. But, such is life."

"The writing has been on the wall for a long time. We knew when the Sigma engine finished there was no replacement. We knew when the AJ engine finished there was no replacement. The predicted volumes for new Dragon engine were 250,000, then 125,000, then the last thing we had was for 70,000."

Unions described the news as a “hammer blow” for the community in Bridgend and a “grotesque act of economic betrayal”.

The GMB union released an analysis on Thursday showing that the UK has lost half a million manufacturing jobs over the past decade.

Ford has announced thousands of job cuts globally this year, largely affecting white-collar workers, as the company seeks to shed unprofitable parts of its business.

Until recently, the company’s UK factories had not been thought to be immediately at risk as part of those plans.

However, it is understood Ford did not replace a major contract to build engines for Jaguar Land Rover at the Bridgend plant. That work comes to an end next year.

Ford also operates a diesel engine plant at Dagenham, east London, and another factory making transmissions in Halewood, near Liverpool.

The Bridgend plant has been under threat because of falling demand for the two engines it makes and lower projections for the Dragon engine it is scheduled to start making this year. It has been manufacturing engines for 40 years.

Ford’s European profits plummeted 82 per cent last year, in part because of a fall in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote in June 2016.

Jeff Beck, a GMB Union regional organiser, said: “Regardless of today’s announcement GMB will continue to work with Ford, our sister unions and the Welsh government to find a solution to the issue and mitigate the effects of this devastating news.

“What makes it worse is Donald Trump is in this country talking about a possible trade deal between the UK and the US – yet when the plant closes the new line is likely to be produced in Mexico by an American company.”

Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite the Union, said: “Ford’s decision to shut its Bridgend engine plant in 2020 is a grotesque act of economic betrayal.

“These workers and this community have stayed faithful to Ford, as have UK customers – this is still Ford’s largest European market – through thick and thin, but have been treated disgracefully in return by this company.

“Ford broke promise after promise to the UK. First, it was that it would build 500,000 engines at Bridgend. That fell to a quarter of a million, then fell again and again to now just 80,000. The company has deliberately run down its UK operations so that now not a single Ford vehicle – car or van – is made in the UK.”

The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “I am aware of the reports and I understand that they will be very worrying for workers at Bridgend but the reports are unconfirmed by the company so it is not appropriate for me to speculate or comment further at this time.”

Carwyn Jones, a former Welsh government leader who is currently an assembly member for Bridgend, told the Press Association: “This has all been very sudden. There was no warning about this at all. It seems to me that any decision, whatever that decision is, would have been taken very recently.

“From my perspective, I want to know what’s going on as to with the workers and want to know a reason for the decision, and to work with the Welsh government to see what we can do to help the workers here.

“It’s the biggest single employer in the area, I remember it being built in the late Seventies. There are relatively few suppliers locally but there are a number of businesses that provide services for the plant itself and they would be severely affected because for a lot of them this is the only contract they have.”

Ford announced last month it was cutting 7,000 white-collar jobs worldwide, with up to 550 expected in the UK.

The US manufacturer said the cuts represented 10 per cent of its global salaried workforce and 20 per cent of its management positions.

A spokesperson for Unite said: “Our priority is our members’ jobs, the communities and livelihoods in the supply chain that Ford Bridgend supports.”