Nissan in Sunderland

Julie Elliott Excerpts

Monday 4th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for her question. What I said in my statement and what I said at the time was that the programme of support for the automotive sector is very long standing and has been very successful. As it happens, the application that Nissan made was concluded relatively recently; it was putting forward a case, through the independent scrutiny processes, for funding. I shared the letter with the previous Chair of the BEIS Committee, and the Comptroller and Auditor General had also seen it at that time. I said in my statement that because the terms of the application, which is independently assessed and reviewed, have now varied, the company will of course need to resubmit on the grounds of the new information that it has. However, this remains a programme that has been very effective in supporting the skills in the wider workforce, environmental improvements and the research and development for which our automotive industry is now so renowned.

[Julie Elliott (Sunderland Central) (Lab)]

After the announcement at the weekend by Nissan—for the first time publicly saying that the insecurity around Brexit was impacting business decisions, which in real terms means jobs—what assurances can the Secretary of State give the workers not only at Nissan, but in the supply chain and wider manufacturing, that the Government will come up with an agreement that will secure jobs as we leave the EU? As he knows, the Prime Minister’s deal is not going through this House, and we need real decisions and real movement on the customs union and the things that will protect jobs.

[Greg Clark]

I say to the hon. Lady, whose constituents depend on successful future investments, as well as the ones that have been secured, which she rightly welcomed when they were first made, that this whole House has a responsibility to come together, put its differences aside and find a deal that can be agreed and ratified, and can be ratified by the European Parliament, so that we can have precisely that certainty that Nissan and other investors have called for.