Honda has joined the lengthening list of UK companies asking its employees to accept pay cuts in order to avoid compulsory redundancies.

Workers at the Japanese carmaker’s main European plant in Swindon, currently in a four-month shutdown, on Monday received letters asking them to “remain flexible to the ever changing circumstances”. “The seriousness for the global car industry and the unpredictability of what will happen in the future cannot be underestimated,” Dave Hodgetts, planning and administration director, told staff at the plant, which is due to resume work in early June. “This makes it extremely difficult to confirm a longer-term plan.”