Levelling up our communities with post-Brexit investment | Ethan Thoburn
Post-Brexit investment and trading opportunities keep coming for Britain, although the government must be aware they cannot rely on putting all of their eggs in one basket and that they must ensure meaningful leveling up for the parts of the country that voted Conservative for the first time in December 2019, rather than just ‘levelling up’ rhetoric.
Fortunately, it seems so far so good and Mr Johnson seems to be delivering on his levelling up agenda, from moving parts of Whitehall to the North East and Midlands, including Treasury North, the Department for International Trade and parts of the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government. However, what people in these areas really want to see is the real advantages of Brexit and proof that we were right to leave the European Union.
Not too far from my hometown is the city of Sunderland, the first place to declare the result on the night of 23rd June 2016, and that was a declaration that the city had voted to Leave the EU. Not only is it the first place to have voted for Brexit, it is home to Japanese car giant, Nissan and has been since the 1980s when Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government secured the investment deal. During the referendum Project Fear was in full swing regarding Nissan with the then Chancellor George Osborne warning of devastating job losses and other commentators on the Remain side warning that Nissan would pack their bags and leave the city, but thankfully the good people of Sunderland saw through that and voted overwhelmingly to leave.
In a huge vote of post-Brexit confidence, Nissan have announced plans to build a battery gigafactory in Sunderland, which will see over 6,000 jobs created in Sunderland and the wider North East of England, this comes as a result of the Japanese car manufacturer continuing its UK operations despite Brexit fear mongering. This is a huge vote of confidence in British manufacturing and also key in the Conservative Party’s levelling up agenda, and will bring countless benefits to the region as well as the new freeport in Teesside and the investment in Blyth from Britishvolt.
Britishvolt’s announcement of their gigaplant in Northumberland could ‘dwarf’ that of Nissan’s in Washington. The Cambois plant, near Blyth will be in the race to become the world’s first gigaplant for battery production following Northumberland County Council’s unanimous approval for planning permission. Again, this proves that it is the Conservative Party which is investing in our towns up and down the country, it comes after Ian Levy, the recently elected MP for Blyth Valley met with the company ahead of their investment commitment in the area.
The huge project will create over 3,000 jobs in the region and will be based on the old Blyth Power Station - Mr Levy said of the move, “I am absolutely delighted that Britishvolt’s gigafactory has been granted planning permission by Northumberland County Council. This is a huge milestone that will breathe life back into a site that was once the coal yard of Blyth Power Station. The economic impact of 3,000 skilled jobs being created in Northumberland will be transformational and is a massive boost for local high streets that will benefit from the increased spending power of residents. When I first met with the Britishvolt team last year, I was incredibly impressed by their ambition and the extremely challenging timetable they had set themselves. However, once they set up their office in Blyth, they have delivered exactly what they said they would do. The project has now taken a significant step forward that will give confidence to investors. Britishvolt and the Conservative led County Council have both done an incredible job and I look forward to construction getting underway.”
Nissan’s expansion will see one of the UK’s first gigafactories, however it isn’t all as sweet as it may seem, funding could come from a £500m pot which the Government committed to battery production in the autumn, as part of a 10-point plan for a “green industrial revolution” over the next four years. Although one may argue that by investing in UK production the opportunity cost for such investment overwhelmingly favours the government investment, especially as it will boost British manufacturing and help Britain become Western Europe’s tech hub and that’s not to mention the positive multiplier effect on the local economy in the North East. The new factory could open as soon as 2024, according to reports, producing batteries with six gigawatt hours (GWh) of energy at first, eventually more than tripling this.
Nissan’s Chief Operating Officer praised Britain’s departure from the European Union which is a complete U-turn from the rhetoric which was on display in 2016. Ashwani Gupta spoke in favour of Brexit saying, “Brexit for Nissan is a positive. Brexit gives us a competitive advantage in the UK and outside. We’ll take this opportunity to redefine the auto industry in the UK. In certain conditions, our competitiveness is improved. For some of the cases, it is at par. It depends on which car, but competitiveness is definitely improved in electric vehicles. Brexit gives us a competitive advantage in the UK and outside. We are committed to ensuring the UK continues to be one of the best locations in the world for automotive manufacturing through a major investment programme.”
After all, one of the main reasons places like Sunderland voted for Brexit is that they had been left behind by successive governments for decades and this investment from this Conservative Government shows that it is the Conservatives and not Labour who really have the best interests of the region at heart. Failure to invest in areas such as the North East has seen a cataclysmic decline in the region, once the shipbuilding and coal mining capital of the world, now just a post-industrial setting stuck in decline, that is until now. Brexit gave us the perfect opportunity to invest not just in businesses in the area such as Nissan but in the communities which are really at the heart of each area which has been left behind.
Furthermore, investment in the region could be further turbocharged soon after the announcement by Elon Musk that he was looking for a UK site for a new battery gigafactory for his electric car empire, Tesla. One of the front runners for the site is Teesside and Red Wall MPs signed a letter to Mr Musk encouraging him to consider Teesside for his British investment. However, it’s Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley Mayor who is really turbocharging the south of the region. The elected Mayor has been instrumental in driving not just Teesside forward but the positive knock-on effect on the rest of the region has been unimaginable.
As I mentioned previously, Houchen managed to secure a freeport for Teesside as well as a vote of confidence by securing two government departments to his patch, all this without even mentioning how the Mayor saved Durham Tees Valley Airport from closure to ensure that the region had sufficient transport and trading links. At the time he was criticised for interventionism but Mr Houchen has proved all of his critics wrong and left them with egg on their face as he continues to charge on what seems to be a one man mission to resuscitate the North East economy! He was returned in May with a staggering 73pc of first preference votes and rightly so, he has been a beacon of hope for the region and is more than delivering on his promises - he’s proving that there is a very bright future for Britain post-Brexit and that we can be global leaders in several different fields.
Away from the North East, Vauxhall have announced that they will also commit their future to their UK operations, rather than up sticks as suggested during the referendum campaign. The Cheshire factory in Ellesmere Port has had its future confirmed after years of speculation surrounding its possible closure, however a post-Brexit investment boom has seen £100m investment in the site which will create in excess of 1,000 jobs.
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