Nissan ‘says Sunderland plant could close’ if UK excluded from Made in Europe rules
The Japanese carmaker Nissan has reportedly said it could be forced to close its plant in Sunderland if the UK is not fully included in new “Made in Europe” manufacturing rules proposed by the EU.The UK car industry trade representative group also said it was “gravely concerned” about the proposals, which it said could damage the £70bn annual cross-channel trade.Under the EU plans, public subsidies to speed up the development of electric vehicles would only be available to EVs made in European plants.Announced by the EU industrial strategy commissioner, Stéphane Séjourné, on Wednesday, the proposed Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) is designed to protect the bloc from cheap competition from China.According to reports on Thursday, Nissan has privately warned the UK government it could be forced to close if the proposals became law.
One industry executive told the Financial Times Nissan could face “an existential threat” if it was “frozen out of access to EU incentives”,The company’s Sunderland site is Britain’s biggest car factory, with 6,000 employees and the theoretical ability to make 600,000 cars a year,However, it is operating significantly below capacity because of lower demand,The British car industry said the attempt to prioritise EU-made products to accelerate green tech including electric vehicles must include trusted partners in the UK,Mike Hawes, the chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the main UK auto sector lobby group, said: “The UK automotive sector is gravely concerned by [the] ‘Made in Europe’ proposals set out in the European Commission’s Industrial Accelerator Act.
As drafted, it would discriminate against UK-made vehicles and components, damaging a trading relationship worth almost £70bn annually.”He said he feared the IAA would “effectively put UK manufacturers at a systemic competitive disadvantage in the EU market”, adding that the proposals, as they stood, “may also be in breach of the EU-UK trade cooperation agreement – the Brexit deal”.It is understood the cause of concern is the third annex of the proposal, which shows how corporate fleets – that account for the majority of car sales and feed into the second car market – could benefit from public subsidy.However, rules requiring them to be assembled in the EU could rule UK cars out of that important market.The German car industry body, the VDA, has also raised concerns, saying protective measures could raise costs for manufacturers and drivers.
It is also concerned that the rules would trigger counter-measures from other countries vital for EU exports.“In its current form, the IAA will not be able to significantly strengthen the competitiveness of industry in Germany and Europe.Its industrial policy impact will unfortunately be extremely limited,” the VDA’s president, Hildegard Müller, said.Hawes called on the British government and its European counterparts to work together to “urgently resolve the situation” by extending “full trusted partner status to the UK auto sector”.A spokesperson said the UK government was a “a close and trusted European partner, committed to our shared security and economic cooperation” and it wanted “to work together as like-minded partners to boost growth, resilience and economic security”.
The business secretary, Peter Kyle, visited Brussels last week to make the case for the UK to be included as a full partner in the “Made in Europe” initiative,However, he did not meet Séjourné, the architect of the proposals,The commissioner said on Wednesday that third-party countries would not be excluded if they had a trade agreement with the EU, although this would change if they took measures to favour their homegrown industries, such as buy Canadian or buy American policies,Prof Simone Tagliapietra, a senior fellow at the Bruegel thinktank in Brussels, said: “In its final version, the proposed Industrial Accelerator Act has abandoned the pure ‘Made in Europe’ approach, opening it up to third countries – what we might call ‘Made with Europe’,This is a welcome step, aligning EU industrial and trade policies as it should be.
”A European Commission spokesperson said the EU-UK trade deal meant UK products could be considered equivalent to EU.“The EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement is considered as an ‘agreement establishing a free trade area’ within the meaning of the IAA regulation,” a spokesperson said.“Therefore, products originating in the UK would be considered as equivalent to union origin for the purposes of schemes and auctions, unless the UK excludes products originating from the EU from the scope of schemes and auctions.”
Asylum seekers waiting over a year for claim in UK may be allowed to work under new measures
Up to 21,000 asylum seekers who have waited for a year for their claims to be processed could be allowed to enter the jobs market so they can support themselves, the Home Office has said, as part of a package of measures to be announced on Thursday.As the government seeks to empty asylum hotels, claimants who break the law, work illegally or are found to have enough assets to live without support will from June be ejected and lose their support payments.The developments have been questioned by the Refugee Council for risking an increase in rough sleeping among those escaping war and famine.They come as Shabana Mahmood has hit back in a column for the Guardian at demands from senior labour movement figures for ministers to stop focusing on migration and to soften their attacks on the Green party.The home secretary wrote: “Restoring order at our border is not just an embodiment of Labour values, it is the necessary condition for a Labour government to do anything at all
Badenoch gives a borderline disgraceful performance at PMQs on Iran | John Crace
On another day it might even have been quite funny. The mismatch between Kemi Badenoch’s self-belief and her performance. But Wednesday’s prime minister’s questions was far too serious for that, with Donald Trump’s Awfully Big Iranian Adventure threatening to escalate into all-out war in the Middle East.It was also a day when you could think the unthinkable. Might Kemi actually be even weaker than Chris Philp? Certainly she’s the worst leader of the Tory party in living memory
‘He’s no Winston Churchill’: why Starmer can shrug off Trump’s insults over Iran
It was perhaps the most attention-grabbing moment of prime minister’s questions. Responding to yet another Conservative salvo about his approach to Iran and how it might affect ties with America, Keir Starmer was direct.“American planes are operating out of British bases – that is the special relationship in action,” he said. “Sharing intelligence every day to keep our people safe – that is the special relationship in action. Hanging on to President Trump’s latest words is not the special relationship in action
Andy Burnham criticises ‘bankruptcy’ of Labour approach to campaigning
Andy Burnham has reignited hostilities with Keir Starmer’s Labour leadership, criticising what he described as the “bankruptcy” of the party’s approach to campaigning, a week after it lost the previously safe seat of Gorton and Denton.The mayor of Greater Manchester and former MP, regarded as a rival to Starmer, said Labour’s campaigning style prevented it from connecting with non-Labour voters and other progressive parties, as he evoked the system of clipboard-wielding canvassers going door to door with records of previous Labour supporters.“What I want to say today is that the time has most definitely come for a serious conversation about our political system and its pervading culture, particularly so in the aftermath of the Gorton and Denton byelection,” Burnham said in a speech at the British Library in London that reignited speculation he has not given up on replacing Starmer.“It revealed the full depth of the chasm between people and Westminster politics. I don’t think anybody can seriously dispute that statement
Labour MP says she had no reason to suspect her husband may have broken law after his arrest on suspicion of spying for China – as it happened
One of the three men arrested on suspicion of spying for China is David Taylor, the husband of a Labour MP.Joani Reid, MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven, told Sky News in a statement:double quotation markI have never seen anything to make me suspect my husband has broken any law.I am not part of my husband’s business activities, and neither I nor my children are part of this investigation, and we should not be treated by media organisations as though we are.Above all I expect media organisations to respect my children’s privacy.That’s all from me, Tom Ambrose, and indeed the UK politics live blog for today
Ex-Nato commander defends Starmer after Trump’s ‘no Winston Churchill’ jibe
Britain cannot become embroiled in a war “without a clear end point”, a former senior Nato commander has said, as he defended Keir Starmer after Donald Trump’s jibes that he was “not Winston Churchill”.Trump was “another American president who had launched a war of choice,” said Gen Sir Richard Shirreff, as a minister insisted that the UK prime minister had acted “with a cool head” by not allowing British bases to be used for initial strikes.The US president launched a deeply personal attack on Starmer over his refusal to let Washington launch initial strikes on Iran from British bases, telling reporters on Tuesday in the White House: “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”In his latest extraordinary salvo, Trump said he was not happy with the UK even though Starmer eventually agreed the US could use the Diego Garcia military base in the Chagos Islands for strikes on Iranian missile facilities.Asked in a series of interviews on Wednesday morning about Trump’s comments, the chief secretary to the Treasury, James Murray, said: “The prime minister took the decision he did in the national interest
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