Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the closure of Britishvolt.

As part of our efforts to see British companies succeed in the industry, the Government offered significant support to Britishvolt through the Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF). Full due diligence was completed before a final grant offer letter was awarded.

Funding was designed so that agreed milestones had to be achieved for the company to drawdown any funds.  These milestones were not met and therefore no ATF funds were paid to Britishvolt.

The Government want to ensure the UK remains one of the best locations in the world for automotive manufacturing as we transition to electric vehicles. That includes investing record sums in battery R&D – such as the recent announcement of £211 million into the Faraday Battery Challenge, which will help deliver 100,000 jobs in battery gigafactories and the battery supply chain by 2040.