:00:00. > 3:59:59all from us. On BBC Two, Newsnight last the full version of that
:00:00. > :00:15.interview with Good evening. The West Country's
:00:16. > :00:21.biggest car plant, Honda in Swindon, is cutting 500 job because of poor
:00:22. > :00:24.sales. Huge parts of the factory are being mothballed following ` lack of
:00:25. > :00:30.demand for Hondas in Europe. Here's Will Glennon.
:00:31. > :00:33.They got the glossy showrools and the shiny cars. But there w`s no`one
:00:34. > :00:38.with their nose pressed up `gainst the glass here at Honda tonhght And
:00:39. > :00:42.that is a problem because at the factory here in Swindon thex could
:00:43. > :00:45.make twice as many cars as they are actually going to sell in Etrope
:00:46. > :00:48.this year. That means job losses on the production line. The workers
:00:49. > :00:55.were told this morning. Thex were surprised, angry and disappointed.
:00:56. > :01:00.As workers left their shift at Honda today, the mood was as grey as the
:01:01. > :01:06.skies. It won't be long before 00 of them don't have jobs any more. I
:01:07. > :01:11.have got a young family and I don't know what to do, really. Hard times
:01:12. > :01:17.for us and the company. Just got to go with it and see what happens I
:01:18. > :01:22.suppose. It is a sad loss again It is not the first time this has
:01:23. > :01:26.happened. Basically, just w`nt to know what the people at the top are
:01:27. > :01:31.doing. The announcement has come as a surprise to everyone involved
:01:32. > :01:34.There is anger and disbelief. Based around the fact that we had only
:01:35. > :01:37.just completed a redundancy programme last year and the
:01:38. > :01:45.anticipation was that things were on the up and there would be
:01:46. > :01:49.recruitment and growth this year. The reason for the cuts is simple.
:01:50. > :01:52.Honda make too many cars and not enough people in Europe are buying
:01:53. > :02:00.them. Last year, Honda made 140 000 cars here. This year, it is expected
:02:01. > :02:03.to make 20,000 fewer. Althotgh the UK has shown signs of growth more
:02:04. > :02:06.recently, a number of major economies around the world have
:02:07. > :02:13.shown the opposite trend, or very weak growth. And that has ilpacted
:02:14. > :02:16.in terms of the demand for vehicles. There are still 3,000 peopld
:02:17. > :02:19.employed here and Honda inshsts it is confident about the long`term
:02:20. > :02:24.future of the plant if and when Europe's economy starts to bloom
:02:25. > :02:27.again. Earlier I spoke to Professor Andrew
:02:28. > :02:31.Graves from Bath University who is an expert on the motor industry and
:02:32. > :02:43.began by asking him whether Honda are right to blame this on the
:02:44. > :02:47.European economy. Well, it hs not affecting everybody. It is `ffecting
:02:48. > :02:51.French producers but a lot of other car companies are doing verx well,
:02:52. > :02:56.particularly Toyota, built hn England. Also in this end, Jaguar
:02:57. > :03:00.Land Rover. You have to havd the right product in the right part of
:03:01. > :03:05.the market. They have focusdd on southern Europe a lot and that
:03:06. > :03:10.really has collapsed. But there have been increased sales in even Spain
:03:11. > :03:14.recently. To some extent, France. You have to have the right lodels
:03:15. > :03:20.and the right strategy to bd selling into the right parts of the world.
:03:21. > :03:27.If you are right, is Honda on the case? No, they are not. Thex have
:03:28. > :03:32.been behind the ball. They dropped the jigsaw in the biggest possible
:03:33. > :03:35.way. They have known about this for several years, and they are a
:03:36. > :03:39.dynamic company in some parts of the world but they have not been big
:03:40. > :03:43.enough `` quick enough bringing those new models to the country ``
:03:44. > :03:46.to the market. Council`owned land at the Port of
:03:47. > :03:50.Bristol could be sold off to raise money for the city. The Mayor hopes
:03:51. > :03:53.the sale will bring in ?10 lillion, but critics of the idea say he's
:03:54. > :03:55.selling off the family silvdr. Here's our political editor Paul
:03:56. > :03:59.Barltrop. Up for sale for the second time The
:04:00. > :04:03.docks at Portbury and Avonmouth were privatised 23 years ago. Now the
:04:04. > :04:10.freehold to the land could follow, bringing the council ?10 million. I
:04:11. > :04:14.think this is a win`win. Thdre will be complainants, but there `lways
:04:15. > :04:18.will be. Oh, you are selling the family silver. But you have to
:04:19. > :04:22.question if it is the familx silver on a piece of land which if it is
:04:23. > :04:26.realised is quite likely to be under several metres of water if global
:04:27. > :04:30.warming goes on the way it hs! This morning on Radio Bristol he came
:04:31. > :04:33.face to face with one critic. Anthony Negus was part of a previous
:04:34. > :04:40.council administration who rejected the idea. I'm all for regendration,
:04:41. > :04:44.I'm all for increased jobs, I want the City Council to play a part in
:04:45. > :04:48.that rather than just having a fire sale and taking the money ott for
:04:49. > :04:54.pet projects and ignoring problems which we have in other parts of the
:04:55. > :04:59.city. That is not the way to do things. The lease on this l`nd has
:05:00. > :05:04.127 years to run. But the owners warn that may deter investors. In
:05:05. > :05:08.business terms, it is fairlx short term. It does make a differdnce to
:05:09. > :05:12.who is prepared to move herd. We have proved to the council over many
:05:13. > :05:16.years we are not property developers, we don't put up houses.
:05:17. > :05:21.We use every bit of land for port activities. Selling this bit of land
:05:22. > :05:26.will not end the council's link to the port. `` selling of the
:05:27. > :05:30.freehold. It will still ret`in a stake in the company, an investment
:05:31. > :05:33.which brings the city more than ?1 million a year. The future of the
:05:34. > :05:40.2,600 acre site will be deb`ted by Bristol's cabinet next week. But the
:05:41. > :05:44.final decision will be the layor's. Bristol City Football Club have been
:05:45. > :05:47.given the green light to st`rt work on redeveloping their Ashton Gate
:05:48. > :05:51.stadium. The deadline for any objections has now expired, allowing
:05:52. > :05:56.the club to begin the ?40 mhllion project at the end of the sdason.
:05:57. > :06:04.It'll see two sides of the ground completely rebuilt and capacity
:06:05. > :06:08.increased to 27,000. In football, it was a dramatic night
:06:09. > :06:12.at Ashton Gate. Five goals saw City storm to victory over Port Vale in
:06:13. > :06:16.League 1. Swindon also had ` good night, winning 2`1 away at Tranmere.
:06:17. > :06:19.In the Championship, Yeovil Town went in as underdogs against leaders
:06:20. > :06:24.Leicester City, coming away with a draw. In League 2, Bristol Rovers
:06:25. > :06:33.lost 3`1 at Fleetwood, whild Cheltenham lost 2`0 at to
:06:34. > :06:41.Scunthorpe. That's it from me. Newsnight is on
:06:42. > :06:44.BBC Two now. There is on BBC Two now. There's an exclusive interview
:06:45. > :06:45.with disgraced coal boss Patl Flowers. Now the West Country
:06:46. > :06:58.weather. A fair amount of dry weather during
:06:59. > :07:02.the course of the morning. Some showers feeding in from the east and
:07:03. > :07:12.then the north. Tonight will be chilly and dry. For tomorrow, it
:07:13. > :07:18.will be a dry start into thd rush hour. Some brighter spells `round as
:07:19. > :07:21.well. From lunchtime onwards, showers arriving. Towards the east,
:07:22. > :07:28.there will tend to be heavy in places. There are not many coming
:07:29. > :07:30.out to the West until the evening. Some of you will hang on to some dry
:07:31. > :07:37.weather. Here 10 degrees. The outlook, it stays
:07:38. > :07:42.chilly and temperatures look like they will pick up towards the eight
:07:43. > :07:46.-- weekend. In early spring, a bit of sunshine
:07:47. > :07:48.makes the difference. Today we had some sunshine in the far east of the
:07:49. > :07:49.UK and