Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing grants to support the transition of the GKN Driveline factory in Birmingham to produce components for electric vehicles.

The Government has no role in setting the strategic direction or priorities of private sector businesses. As part of the mandatory consultation process on the future of the GKN Driveline factory in Birmingham, the government secured assurances from GKN Automotive that they would consider viable alternatives to closure, including repurposing the plant to produce components for electric vehicles.

Alternative proposals were submitted as part of the consultation. After careful consideration, GKN regrettably concluded there were no viable alternatives to closure.

The government is maintaining a dialogue about the site’s future, actively marketing the site and is working with GKN and local partners to provide support and guidance to the GKN employees. Any potential future commercial propositions for the Birmingham site will be assessed on their own merits.

The Government remains fully committed to working in partnership with industry to support the automotive sector’s transition to zero emission vehicles. Nearly £500m has been made available through the Automotive Transformation Fund to build an internationally competitive electric vehicle supply chain as part of my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s 10 Point Plan. This will create thousands of well-paid green jobs in our industrial heartlands, including the West Midlands.