JOHN Prescott tried to put the troubled waters of last week behind him with a visit to Gwent bridgemaking plant.

The deputy prime minister was making his first visit to Wales since he hit the headlines after the rumble in Rhyl.

High secrecy surrounded the visit to Fairfield Mabey in Chepstow where Mr Prescott and Welsh secretary Paul Murphy met Monmouth candidate Huw Edwards.

Managing director Peter Lloyd greeted Mr Prescott off the Prescott Express battle bus and showed him around the factory. The company are Chepstow's largest industrial employer and make steel bridges for road and rail.

Mr Lloyd was keen to impress on Mr Prescott the need for continued investment in the transport infrastructure of the UK.

He said: "We've been into the factory and looked at the bridges we're fabricating. There's one for the A2/M2 widening in North Kent and a channel tunnel rail link. We make 80% of bridges of this type in the UK. We're dependent on infrastructure development, which is largely dependent on government policy."

Mr Lloyd is not a Labour Party member, but has appeared on campaign literature of the party's Monmouth candidate Huw Edwards.