Ratcliffe rats on Bridgend workers

Ineos has withdrawn its saving investment in a 500-job 4x4 plant in Bridgend, south Wales, photo by Land Rover MENA/CC (Click to enlarge)

Mega-corporation Ineos, owned by anti-union, multibillionaire James Ratcliffe, has reneged on its agreed investment in a 500-job 4x4 car plant in Bridgend, south Wales. The planned site was next to the doomed Ford Bridgend engine plant, soon to close with the loss of 1,700 jobs. It seems that Ineos has switched investment instead to a former Mercedes-Benz plant in France.

Last September, to much fanfare, Ineos said: "The decision to build in the UK is a significant expression of confidence in British manufacturing, which has always been at the heart of what Ineos stands for."

Having praised Ineos and sunk a considerable sum into the venture, the Welsh government is now left with an enormous omelette on its face.

The clear lesson is, 'you can't plan what you don't control, and you can't control what you don't own'. The trade unions must campaign to nationalise Ineos, under democratic workers' control and management.

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