Stellantis Luton

Debate between Lord Woodley and Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

Thursday 28th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Woodley (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare an interest: three generations of my family have worked at Vauxhall. My sympathies go out to the Luton plant. I thank the Minister for meeting me and the former chief executive of Vauxhall last week to discuss the difficulties surrounding Stellantis.

The noble Lord, Lord Fox, covered most of my points admirably, and I thank him for that. There is no doubt that the ZEV mandate has been and still is a problem, and it needs changing now or this will not be the last problem we have. The plant at Luton is profitable, and it is not 1,100 workers losing their jobs but 4,000-plus when we add the component supporters.

Maybe there are cynics among us who would say that the Government have not tried and that this situation does not have a great deal to do with the ZEV mandate but rather relates to the value of the land that sits alongside the airport at Luton. I would not like to be a cynic, but I sincerely hope—in line with the demands of my union, Unite, for this company to be pushed to rethink its closure strategy—that it is made sure that, if the land is sold, it is sold for industrial purposes and not for housing. I would like to hear the Minister’s comments about that. However, this is not over; we have a lot of work to do and my people at Luton are determined to fight this. I wish them the very best of good fortune.

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for those points. As I said at the outset, we very much feel for the people of Luton—this is a terrible time for them. My noble friend is quite right that this is not just about the people who are directly employed in the sector; it has much wider ramifications. At the end of the day, these are commercial decisions, but we are working very closely with Stellantis on how the consultation is dealt with and what support can be given to those affected. There will be the opportunity for some people to transfer to Ellesmere Port, but we understand the impact that this closure will have on the remaining population.

The Government recognise that Luton is a vibrant and very diverse community that has ambitions for the future. We are already investing £20 million in the Stage mixed-use development to help unlock Luton’s town centre regeneration plans, so we are looking at what wider support we can give. In the meantime, it is absolutely right that we focus on those who are affected now, and that we give them support through both the Department for Work and Pensions and further negotiations that we will have with Stellantis, to make sure that we provide the maximum protection for those affected by this decision. However, I will not underestimate the challenge of this, and my noble friend is quite right to raise it. I am sure there will be further discussions about what else we can do.