Unions have warned car giant Ford they will fight any move to end production at its biggest UK factory.

The firm is reviewing its operations across Europe and there are fears that car assembly at Dagenham could be scaled down or even closed.

A decision is not expected until May but union officials held a series of meetings with workers at Dagenham to assure them any cutbacks will be fought.

Tony Woodley, chief negotiator for the Transport and General Workers Union, urged workers to continue doing their jobs to make sure they cannot be blamed for any problems. If Ford reneged on undertakings it had given unions in the past it would have a fight on its hands, said Mr Woodley.

Mr Woodley said he would be reminding the company that the diesel engines built at Dagenham supplied Ford plants across the world, including North America.

He said: "If any decision is made to close the assembly plant that would be against the business logic and we will do our best to make sure it doesn't happen.''

It is not believed Ford's Dunton research centre will be affected.

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