Bridgend Ford

So the blow has fallen. The decision was half-expected, but not the speed. The last shift at the Ford engine factory in Bridgend will clock off in September next year. Suppliers to Ford in the region will be hit and there will be a further ripple effect because skilled Ford workers have set up home in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot as well as in Bridgend county borough itself.

Ford management has to bear much of the blame for the situation in that it did not respond as fast as its competitors to changes in the industry. However, the threat of Brexit making cross-border supply lines economically non-viable must have sealed Bridgend's fate.

Eight years ago, TRW Cam Gears closed in Resolven and a few years earlier Borg-Warner had terminated its Margam operation. The opportunities for engineering workers are narrowing and moving eastward. CAF Rail has started work on new trains in Newport, Gwent. Aston Martin has committed to the Vale of Glamorgan for the production of its electric vehicle, but the Welsh government has still not been able to tie Ineos down to the use of the Bridgend plant for its Land Rover replacement.

The tourist industry is valuable to Wales, and it should be encouraged. Universities and other research facilities here continue to produce innovative ideas. However, these cannot pay all the bills. A healthy economy is a mixed economy and it seems that south-west Wales is being drained of an important part of that mix.