{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Take One! with Visual PR Productions","title":"\"It's My Town\" - Will Stone MP on What Swindon Could Become | Take One! with Visual PR Productions","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2767,"description":"Swindon is now home to the UK's largest drone manufacturer and the largest uncrewed systems testing facility in Europe, and in this Take One! interview, Will Stone MP explains how a town that lost Honda rebuilt itself around advanced manufacturing and defence technology.\nWhen the Honda plant closed, it took far more than jobs with it. It took business rates from the council, spending power from the high street, and an apprenticeship pipeline that thousands of young people in Swindon had relied on. Five years on, the picture looks very different.\nChris Dawes sits down with Will Stone, Labour MP for Swindon North, for a wide-ranging and genuinely unscripted conversation about how that turnaround happened. Will talks about his five years in the Rifles and how a military mindset shapes the way he approaches obstacles, the moment large defence companies told him there was no reason to come to Swindon, and the relentless engagement with more than 170 companies that followed.\nAlong the way, the conversation covers what dual-use technology actually means and why drones are as relevant to mountain rescue and policing as they are to defence, how the supply chain around advanced manufacturing creates work for composites firms, logistics businesses and service companies across Wiltshire, and why he chose defence over green technology as the first strategic priority for the town.\nWill is also candid about the parts of the job that are harder to talk about. He addresses the misconception that Swindon becomes a target, explains why he would rather educate people than argue with them, and talks openly about the Harry Parker Bill, the responsibility of representing families through the worst moments of their lives, and how he protects his own mental health while doing it.\nWhether you are a Swindon resident, run a business in Wiltshire or the wider South West, or you are simply interested in how a post-industrial town reinvents itself, there is a lot here.\nTake One! with Visual PR...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/PZalvosIVgtzol4B1CCKxQN53SDFErnxJzcaomr3ftU/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8wODRj/NjlkNjJlNzQ0NzRh/YzA2Yzg3ZjA4NzVj/ZDRjYi5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}