Lotus boss calls for UK government support as it commits to Norfolk plant
The boss of the luxury sports carmaker Lotus has called for government support for its UK factory as the Chinese-owned company insisted it will not abandon its British roots.Lotus said it had extended the lifespan of the £80,000 Emira petrol-engined sports car, made by 900 employees in its factory in Norfolk, in order for the brand to continue to serve the US market.Lotus last year prompted concerns for the future of its British factory, after sources said its Chinese parent company, Geely, was considering its closure.Lotus then cut 550 jobs in August.However, Lotus on Tuesday said it wanted to increase sales in the lucrative US market, meaning it will have to rely on sports car sales from its UK factory rather than electric SUVs from its newer, larger facility in Wuhan, China, which faces prohibitive tariffs.
“We definitely want to keep the [Norfolk] factory going and we definitely want it to be better, to grow,” said the Lotus chief executive, Qingfeng Feng.“We are actively discussing with the government, and it is not just on financial subsidies,” he said, referring also to infrastructure around the plant.He was speaking through a translator on the sidelines of a Financial Times conference.The carmaker also said it would sell new Chinese-made hybrid SUVs in Europe and make a new hybrid-V8 petrol supercar, the Type 135, as part of a strategy “reset”.The company had previously promised to produce no more new petrol models, but abandoned that strategy as electric sales lagged behind expectations.
Lotus’s UK factory, based at a former RAF base at Hethel, Norfolk, is building 2,000 cars a year, but has the capacity to make 10,000, according to Feng.He said the UK “would remain as our best option as we have already made heavy investment in the region”.The case for the UK factory has also been helped by lower US tariffs.Lotus makes nearly two-thirds of its sales in the US.The US and UK last year reached a deal to limit tariffs on 100,000 exports of British cars to 10% – a level Feng said was sustainable.
By contrast, Chinese-made cars are effectively shut out of the US.The English engineer Colin Chapman founded Lotus in 1948 with an emphasis on “adding lightness” to its nippy sports cars.Geely, owned by the billionaire Li Shufu, took majority control of Lotus in 2017.Geely has stakes in several European brands, including the UK’s Aston Martin and Germany’s Mercedes-Benz, and controlling stakes in Sweden’s Volvo and Polestar, as well as the London Electric Vehicle Company, the maker of London black cabs.In China, Geely makes vehicles under its own name, as well as under the Lynk & Co and Zeekr brands.
However, Geely was forced into a significant restructuring after overextending itself, raising doubts over the future of struggling factories.Feng said: “Lotus was born in Britain and we will keep it that way,” although the company was still carrying out feasibility studies on building further models such as the Type 135 in the UK.Lotus has held talks with a UK battery producer as part of efforts to localise its supply chain.Several of Geely’s brands have also been hit by the slowing transition to electric cars across Europe, as well as the evisceration of pro-electric vehicle policies by the US under Donald Trump.In response, Lotus has said it will start to sell hybrid versions of its Eletre SUV in Europe by the end of the year.
The Eletre started as a purely electric model, but Lotus has already started selling a hybrid version in China that combines a petrol engine with a battery.Lotus had previously planned to sell 150,000 vehicles a year by 2028, but on Tuesday it said it would aim to sell only 30,000.Feng said: “I must admit the plan was aggressive.”Feng said current UK political turmoil would not impact its investment plans, but added the company would benefit from a closer trade relationship with Europe to help its supply chain.
Starmer sets out changes to education, health and courts in king’s speech
Keir Starmer has put long-promised changes to education, health and the courts at the heart of his agenda for the next year, as the embattled prime minister looks to prove he can enact the scale of change being demanded by Labour MPs and voters.The prime minister unveiled his legislative programme for the next parliamentry session on Wednesday, a moment he hopes will persuade wavering Labour MPs he should remain in office.Wednesday’s king’s speech included bills to abolish NHS England, overhaul the provision of special educational needs teaching, limit trials by jury, introduce digital ID and end the leasehold system in England and Wales.It also includes measures to make it harder for migrants to gain settled status in the UK, which lie at the centre of the home secretary Shabana Mahmood’s immigration changes, but which could trigger a backlash from Labour MPs.There were few surprises during the 11 and a half-minute speech, which took place against the backdrop of a bitter Labour party battle over whether Starmer should be allowed to stay in Downing Street
Starmer holds 16-minute meeting with Streeting amid leadership crisis
Wes Streeting has held talks with Keir Starmer in Downing Street as an ally of the health secretary renewed calls for the prime minister to resign, saying his authority had “irretrievably ebbed away”.Streeting arrived in No 10 on Wednesday morning amid intense speculation over Labour’s leadership crisis and his own future within the party. He left approximately 16 minutes later without commenting to the media.The health secretary’s allies had sought to portray Wednesday’s meeting as a moment for Streeting to speak candidly about his concerns. But No 10 insiders suggested Streeting was playing down speculation that he was on the brink of declaring his candidacy for the leadership
Easy as ABC: voters in England tend to pick names nearer top of ballot, data suggests
Fancy your chances in politics? Then perhaps you should change your name to Aaron Aaronson or Aaliyah Aardvark, figures from last week’s local elections in England suggest.A Guardian analysis of election results compiled by the website Democracy Club points to a striking alphabet effect. In wards where a party fielded three candidates, those listed nearer the top of the ballot paper – with a surname nearer the start of the alphabet – finished ahead of their party colleagues in 2,200 cases, or 65% of the time.By contrast, candidates listed third out of their party’s list – with a surname nearer the end of the alphabet – topped their party’s slate only 382 times, or 11%. If ballot order had no relationship with performance, the figures would be expected to fall much closer to one-third in each position
Labour-supporting unions predict Starmer will not lead party into next election
Keir Starmer will not lead his party into the next general election, Labour-supporting unions have predicted, in an intervention that threatens to further destabilise the prime minister after a damaging few days.The 11 Labour-affiliated unions – which include Unite, Unison and the GMB – are expected to issue a joint statement on Wednesday saying “at some stage” the party will have to put a plan in place to elect a new leader.At a private meeting on Tuesday, the unions were divided over whether to call for Starmer to set out a timetable for his departure, with one source telling the Guardian there had been a “big fight” among union officials.However, they are understood to have agreed to issue a statement saying they expect there to be a change of leadership, despite GMB and Community arguing it was not in the unions’ best interests to get involved in leadership wrangling.In a leaked copy of the statement, the unions said it was clear to them that Labour “cannot continue on its current path”, and despite some progress it was not doing enough to deliver the change people voted for at the last election
Starmer hopes to regain momentum with unveiling of dozens of bills in king’s speech
Keir Starmer will attempt to regain the political initiative on Wednesday as his government announces a package of 35 bills for the next parliamentary session, covering everything from housing to immigration.The embattled prime minister will release details of dozens of bills that he intends to pass over the next 12 months, even as his own MPs line up to demand his resignation.Starmer, who insisted on Monday that he wanted to oversee radical change over the next few years, will announce a bill to move closer to the EU, one to strengthen the immigration system and one to all but end the leasehold system.He said on Tuesday night: “The British people expect the government to get on with the job of changing our country for the better. Cutting the cost of living, bringing down hospital waiting lists and keeping our country safe in an increasingly dangerous world
Streeting to meet Starmer on Wednesday as the prime minister defies calls to step down – as it happened
This is from Pippa Crerar, the Guardian’s political editor.double quotation markEXCL: Zubir Ahmed, health minister and another close ally of Wes Streeting, quits calling for Keir Starmer to step aside.Feels like the Streeting bid could be onHere is the letter..
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