European Union (Referendum) Bill

Debate between Jack Dromey and Phil Wilson

Friday 22nd November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Phil Wilson]

Nissan and Hitachi Rail Europe are two cases in point. On 8 November, at the launch of the new Qashqai in Sunderland, the chief executive officer of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, told the BBC:

“If anything has to change, we would need to reconsider our strategy and our investments for the future.”

Nissan employs 6,500 people in Sunderland, and supports 40,000 more jobs in the supply chain. Who in their right minds would jeopardise any further investment in Nissan’s Sunderland plant, especially when the person threatening to cause the uncertainty with this Bill is a north-east MP who lives just 20 miles down the A19 from Nissan itself?

[Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making a powerful point. The automotive sector is now a world-class success story. Key to that success has been inward investment. Key to inward investment has been membership of the European Union. Does my hon. Friend agree with the warnings not just from Nissan, but from Ford, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover that were there to be prolonged uncertainty or were we to leave the European Union, great damage would be done to the employers of hundreds of thousands of British workers?

[Phil Wilson]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right and that is why I believe that we should have some consultation with people who bring investment into this country and with other organisations that want to promote jobs not just in the north-east of England but throughout the UK.