Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves says the failure of the Britishvolt project in Northumberland shows the UK is falling behind other countries in the race for green jobs.
Speaking on a visit to the North East, Ms Reeves said Britishvolt going into administration after it was unable to access promised Government funding was due to a lack of commitment to green industries from Ministers.
Britishvolt - which had hoped to create 3,000 jobs at Cambois with a factory to build batteries for electric vehicles - is likely to be sold to Australian firm Recharge Industries after going into administration. The company had been promised £100m in Government support, but was unable to access the funding after not meeting benchmarks set by Ministers.
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Ms Reeves said: “Over the last 13 years that the Conservatives have been in power, economic growth in the UK has been one of the lowest among advanced economies. The International Monetary Fund forecast showed that the while the world been upgraded in terms of growth and prosperity, Britain had been downgraded. We’ve got to turn the corner and start growing our economy and creating jobs that pay decent wages.
“That’s what Labour’s green prosperity plan is all about. We’re just down the road here from Britishvolt, which should have been a great British success story. Now it’s going to be sold to an Australian company because it failed to get off the ground.
“Labour has committed to a national wealth fund and we would invest alongside business in the industries of the future, from electric vehicles to carbon capture and storage, floating offshore wind, green steel and hydrogen. Some country in the world is going to be global leaders in these industries of the future and there’s absolutely no reason why it shouldn’t be Britain - we’ve got the industrial heritage, the right geography and the skills.
“What we don’t have is a Government in Britain that’s getting behind British workers and British businesses and getting those jobs and investment here. Other countries, like the US, are now stealing a march on us with their investment in these industries. Other European countries are doing the same, Australia is doing the same, and we’re going to be left in the slow lane while other countries accelerate.”
And commenting on the failure of the Britishvolt project, she added: “We would have played a more active role. We see a partnership role between Government and business and that’s what our national wealth fund is all about - investing alongside business to get a return for the taxpayer but also to support these strategically important investments so that Britain can be competitive in the industries of the future.
“I want us to be exporting cars around the world that are made in Sunderland and made in Britain. But that will depend on us producing batteries for electric vehicles. If we don’t, we’ll find in years to come we’re going to be importing electric vehicles because we failed to get the production line off the ground.”
Last month a report by former Energy Minister Chris Skidmore warned that the UK could be turning its back on a trillion pounds of investment and almost half a million jobs if it does not seize the economic opportunity of net zero. He warned the UK was falling behind America and Europe in investing in green jobs.
The North East has been identified as one of the regions with most to gain from green industries and a number of organisations have called for greater Government investment to help those jobs become reality.
Ms Reeves said: “The North East has traditionally been a place which has benefitted from inward investment but that has not happened in the last few years because of the instability, because of the chaos and confusion. My commitment as Chancellor is that all of our policies would be built on a rock of financial and fiscal responsibility.
“We know that what we’re going to inherit from the Tories is a mess, and we’re not going to be able to do everything that we want as quickly as possible but we’re determined to get the economy firing on cylinders, creating good jobs in places like the North East, also in Yorkshire where I’m an MP, to take advantage of some of these big changes in technology and to ensure that Britain is a global leader again.”
A Government spokesperson said: “As part of our efforts to see British companies succeed in the industry, we offered significant support to Britishvolt through the Automotive Transformation Fund on the condition that key milestones – including private sector investment commitments - were met.
“Unfortunately, key conditions were not met, and despite significant engagement from government, a solution was not found. The UK remains one of the best locations in the world for automotive manufacturing, and we continue to work towards the best outcome for the site.”
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