A high-ranking Honda boss expressed regret at the effect the Swindon plant's closure will have on the town and promised support services to help its employees.

Senior vice president for Honda in Europe Ian Howells spoke to BBC Radio 4 to discuss the reasons behind the company's closure of its Swindon plant.

He said: "It's a very sad day for us, we've been operating here for about 30 years. What we're responding to is an unprecedented change in the industry that is happening on a global scale. 

"We are having to move very very swiftly to electrification of our motor vehicles and this is a demand both of customers and of legislation.

"It's really starting to give us challenges and we are having to start to address that and look vey closely at where we are putting investment and targeting the investment areas where the volumes in the marketplace for Honda make that investment worthwhile - unfortunately the conclusion is that this does not include Swindon."

Mr Howells mentioned that, compared to the two million cars produced in China and the USA, Swindon's 150,000 cars just didn't stack up.

When challenged on a presentation he gave in 2017 about Swindon being the global production hub for the Civic and there being a clear and sustainable future for manufacturing in the UK, Mr Howells said: "That was at the beginning of a production cycle.

"This is not a Brexit-related issue for us, this decision has been made on the global change in the industry. We deeply regret the impact this will have on our [employees] and the community.

"We are going into consultations, it's still a proposal after all, and we are looking to tput into place a raft of support services.... to make sure our [employees] come out of this in the best possible way."