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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/04/government-letter-to-nissan-reveals-brexit-promise-to-carmarkers
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Government letter to Nissan reveals Brexit promise to carmarkers | Government letter to Nissan reveals Brexit promise to carmarkers |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The business secretary promised Nissan in 2016 that it would not be “adversely affected” by Brexit, in a confidential letter released after the carmaker abandoned plans to produce a new model in Sunderland. | |
| Greg Clark told Nissan’s then chief executive, Carlos Ghosn, that the UK government would do “everything we can” to help, and promised a previously undisclosed package of financial support worth £61m contingent on manufacturing the X-Trail in the UK. | |
| “The government fully recognises the significance of the EU market to your presence in Sunderland,” Clark wrote in the four-page letter dated October 2016. | |
| “It will be a critical priority of our negotiation to support UK car manufacturers and ensure that their ability to export to and from the EU is not adversely affected by the UK’s future relationship with the EU.” | |
| Clark’s promise cannot be met because no Brexit deal has been struck with the European Union, and the government has not ruled out leaving without a deal on 29 March. | |
| The letter did not make any specific assurances about the UK’s future Brexit policy, although it did seek to provide general comfort to Ghosn. It acknowledges his concern about the impact of changes in the terms of trade. | |
| “We will continue to do everything we can to make it as easy and rewarding as possible for Nissan to invest,” Clark wrote at the time. | |
| “I understand, of course, your worries now about uncertainties as the UK prepares to leave the EU. In particular, your fear that potential future trade arrangements could affect the business case for your investments.” | |
| Over the weekend, Nissan said it would no longer manufacture the new model X-Trail SUV in Sunderland, stopping a planned expansion. The company said “the continued uncertainty” over Brexit was one of the factors behind its decision. | |
| ‘It isn't just Nissan, it’s all the jobs’: how the carmaker's U-turn hit Sunderland | ‘It isn't just Nissan, it’s all the jobs’: how the carmaker's U-turn hit Sunderland |
| The letter, which the government had repeatedly refused to release, promised financial support towards Nissan’s investments at the site in return for the expansion of production. | |
| The grants are worth £61m and were finally made on June 2018, Clark said in a second letter sent on Monday to Rachel Reeves, the chairman of the business select committee, in which he formally disclosed the correspondence. | |
| Nicky Morgan, the chair of the Treasury select committee, complained that MPs had not be told that Nissan had been offered financial support. She asked why her predecessor, Andrew Tyrie, had not been told about the package when had what assurances had been provided to Nissan in 2016. | |
| Morgan said: “If the government provided financial assistance to Nissan to persuade it to stay in Sunderland, it should set out what this support was, and why it did not disclose it to my predecessor.” | |
| Clark is understood to be unhappy with reports on Monday morning that the package could be scrapped, as he does not want to further antagonise Nissan, according to sources at the Department for Business. | |
| The minister has repeatedly warned of the dangers of a no-deal Brexit, and wants the government to rule it out soon if parliament cannot agree on a deal with the European Union. | The minister has repeatedly warned of the dangers of a no-deal Brexit, and wants the government to rule it out soon if parliament cannot agree on a deal with the European Union. |
| Nissan said in a statement that the letter showed both the company’s and the government’s “continued desire to support investment in the UK and maintain Sunderland as one of Nissan’s manufacturing hubs in Europe. The letter is no longer commercially sensitive as it contains nothing that hasn’t been disclosed publicly before, and the projects referenced in the letter have now changed.” | Nissan said in a statement that the letter showed both the company’s and the government’s “continued desire to support investment in the UK and maintain Sunderland as one of Nissan’s manufacturing hubs in Europe. The letter is no longer commercially sensitive as it contains nothing that hasn’t been disclosed publicly before, and the projects referenced in the letter have now changed.” |
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