WELSH First Minister Mark Drakeford is setting up a task force to help thousands of Ford workers find new employment after the closure of the car giant’s plant in Bridgend.

The company told union officials today that its south Wales factory will shut in September 2020.

The axing of the 40-year-old plant means that at least 1,700 jobs are likely to be lost, along with thousands more in the supply chain.

Mr Drakeford promised that the Welsh government would do “everything in its power” to support affected workers and find alternative jobs for them.

He said: “This news is incredibly sad for the loyal workforce at the factory, for the community of Bridgend and for those in the supply chain.”

Wales’s Minister for Economy and Transport Ken Skates said a task force would be established in the coming weeks to help find “a sustainable, long-term solution for the plant and its workforce.”

Opened in 1980, the Bridgend site covers an area of 60 acres and is one of Wales’s major employers.

GMB regional organiser Jeff Beck said: “We’re hugely shocked by today’s announcement. It’s a real hammer blow for the Welsh economy and the community in Bridgend.”

The union has also pointed out that 476,500 manufacturing jobs were lost over the 10 years from 2008. It called on the government to invest in industry to reverse this trend.

The announcement coincides with Honda preparing to shut its Swindon plant in 2021, while fellow Japanese car-maker Nissan reversed a decision to build its new X-Trail vehicle at its Sunderland plant.

Jaguar Land Rover, owned by India’s Tata Motors, is also cutting jobs.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey 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 has treated its UK workers abysmally and they could do so because the fact remains that it is cheaper, easier and quicker to sack our workers than those in our competitor countries.”

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long Bailey called the plant closure “truly terrible news.” 

“The Tories need to wake up to reality: they are dragging our manufacturing base into oblivion,” she added.