Honda in Swindon

Debate between Alistair Carmichael and Greg Clark

Tuesday 19th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

Of course I completely respect—everyone has to respect—the reasons that have been given for the decision, but I am pretty familiar with this industry and others, and there are a number of factors. I report to my hon. Friend truthfully that on the minds of many investors around the world is an anxiety caused by a lack of knowledge as to what our trading relationships will be with our most important neighbours in just over a month’s time. That is something that we should resolve; if we do, I think we can look forward to a resumption of significant investment and to statements that are happier than the ones I am able to give today.

[Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)]

I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement. I wish him, and all those with whom he will be working, well as they try to turn this unhappy set of circumstances around. Let us not forget that 3,500 house- holds are facing a pretty bleak future at the moment.

The point the House needs to address today is that this is not a one-off incident—it comes on the back of similar announcements from Nissan and Jaguar Land Rover. It raises serious questions about the future viability of our automotive sector as a whole. This is precisely the sort of thing the Secretary of State’s industrial strategy was designed to address. Why is it that, at the moment, it does not seem to be working?

[Greg Clark]

The decision we took to position this country at the leading edge of the new automotive technologies—battery technology and connected and autonomous vehicles—is evidently the right one, because the pace of change, as has been made clear by Honda today, is faster than even it expected just two or three years ago. If we sustain our commitment through the industrial strategy to make sure that we are the place in the world associated with the leading edge of battery technology and its manufacture—the Faraday challenge and the Faraday Institute are prime examples of that—there is a very prosperous future for that industry. However, it also occurs to me that, in a world in which there is such turbulence and so many changes, we should do everything we can to neutralise other sources of uncertainty. So we need to do both.