Ford Bridgend: Reaction to closure announcement - BBC News
Workers are told the plant is set to close on 25 September 2020.
Des Quinn, National Officer of Unite was in the meeting at Ford HQ in Brentwood this morning.

He told the BBC News Channel that Ford had "betrayed" its workforce in Bridgend.

"We don't believe the plant had to close - it may have become inevitable because of the actions of the company.

"When the company talked about making the Dragon engine in the UK they talked about making 500,000 - but reduced that to 250,000 and then down to 120,000 because they've put that global platform elsewhere in low cost economies.

"The UK is an important profitable market for Ford to sell cars and we think they should be building engines here and supporting the market they rely on to make a profit.

"Unfortunately you can only judge Ford by its actions. Ford had 27 plants in the UK, we're down to five, four if this closure proposal goes through.

"It will be absolutely devastating, not just to Bridgend, it will be devastating to Wales as a country. It will be devastating to UK manufacturing because of the supply chain which goes to the four corners of the UK and wider to Europe.

"It's devastating to the communities - the local pubs and clubs and shops that will also be hit because of this.

"It's absolutely dreadful news and a betrayal of Ford workers in Bridgend.

"It's been some time in coming.

"It's been inaction from the company that's got us here. Performance was improving in the plant and we were keen to get new products in there and unfortunately the reluctance from the company to move forward with that has got us to this stage."