Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy Debate

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Department: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy

Kim Johnson Excerpts
Monday 1st March 2021

(3 years ago)

Commons Chamber
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.

Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.

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Kwasi Kwarteng Portrait Kwasi Kwarteng
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I am delighted to answer that question, because it relates to an earlier answer that I gave. There are new jobs and opportunities in this push towards net zero. I would be very pleased to visit the Johnson Matthey site in Wantage and I think that it is an excellent development that we are all extremely pleased about.

Kim Johnson Portrait Kim Johnson (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab)
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A thousand jobs are at risk if the Ellesmere Port plant closes, and a further 6,000 in the supply chain. Does the Minister agree that the future of the Vauxhall Ellesmere Port plant and the GKN plant in Birmingham could be secured if the Government commit to investing in a green recovery for the automotive sector to produce a new electric model and, in that way, they could protect thousands of jobs, because actions speak louder than words.

Kwasi Kwarteng Portrait Kwasi Kwarteng
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As I said to my right hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark), the Government are 100% committed to making sure those jobs stay. We are in conversations—negotiations, if they may be called that—with the company. We are also very committed to the Prime Minister’s 10-point plan and driving the energy transition, which will have economic impacts, secure jobs and be a great thing not only in the fight against climate change but for the economic development of our country.