Swindon may have to reinvent itself economically, leaders of the two main political parties in town agreed.

At the meeting of Swindon Borough Council’s scrutiny committee, the leader of the opposition Labour group Jim Grant said: “This town has become good at reinventing itself. We are going to have to do it again.”

Coun Grant was referring to the closure of the railway works in the 1980s and the change the town made to high-technology engineering with the BMW-Mini and Honda plants – but the latter will close next year.

He added: “What we don’t know is how the Covid-19 crisis will affect things.

"We don’t know whether an office-based economy will carry on, we’re spending millions on the Zurich building to keep their staff in the town.

“We don’t know whether they’ll be coming back to the office at all.”

Council leader David Renard agreed, saying: “That’s already happening with the £400m investment in a new warehouse at Symmetry Park. That will have high skilled, high-pay jobs down to lower-skilled, lower paid jobs.

Cabinet member for strategic planning Gary Sumner added Swindon was still a popular destination for employers to come to, as long as sites could be found quickly.