Workers occupying a plant owned by the bankrupt parts supplier Visteon in Enfield, north London, face a court-set deadline on Thursday to leave the plant in a bid to end a protest that has also ensnared Ford Motor.

A second Visteon plant in Belfast was the scene of a public rally on Wednesday as representatives of Unite, the trade union, met the top management of Visteon – which was part of Ford until 2000 – in the US to press sacked workers’ case for bigger payouts.