Nissan in Sunderland

Debate between Lord Birt and Lord Hamilton of Epsom

Tuesday 5th February 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords—

[Lord Birt (CB)]

My Lords—

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom]

No, it is not the turn of the Cross-Benches. We have just heard the noble Lord, Lord Hannay.

Does my noble friend accept that Nissan would have been absolutely mad to have gone ahead with the programme for the X-Trail when the whole of the market for diesel vehicles has collapsed? Does he accept that this is largely to do with the overreaction of European Governments, including our own, to the diesel emissions scandal, which was started by Volkswagen in Germany?

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I am not going to allocate blame, particularly because, as I mentioned earlier, my wife was one of those who made the mistake of buying a VW just before the diesel scandal erupted. The fact is that there has been a concerted attempt to reduce the number of diesel cars, for whatever reason. For that reason, Nissan has to make hard-headed decisions about what cars it invests in and in which plants it should be investing.