UK Secretary of State for Business, Vince Cable, has stressed the underlying strength of the British auto sector to General Motors’ CEO Dan Akerson against a backdrop of rumours its Vauxhall plant at Ellesmere Port is under threat.
Speculation surrounding the Astra-producing site in North-West England has provoked a furious response from UK unions this morning (2 March), with representatives saying they would be making a ‘strident’ case to GM to retain the plant employing around 2,100 people.
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Cable met Akerson in New York on Wednesday (29 February) to press the UK’s position as an automotive powerhouse for Europe, but will now have the Unite union’s assertion there was “not one iota of business logic” in closing the plant, reverberating in his ears.
“He [Cable] was there to talk about the strength of the UK auto sector,” a spokeswoman for Cable’s Business, Innovations and Skills department told just-auto. “In the US, they may not be quite so aware of what we have got to offer and what is going on here.
“We have GBP4bn (US$6.4bn) of investment from other global manufacturers so we wanted to make it clear what we had to offer. The Secretary of State wanted to be sure GM was well aware of the strengths…Ellesmere Port is one [of] their most productive plants.”
GM itself is not commenting on speculation surrounding its European operations, which last week, posted huge losses of US$700m, while Unite is reminding them of a legal deal to keep manufacturing at Ellesmere Port for a further two years.
“Ellesmere Port is the most efficient plant in GM’s European family and the UK is their biggest market,” said Unite national officer Roger Maddison.
“There is a legally-binding agreement with GM to support production at Ellesmere Port until 2014.”
The UK Business Secretary is due to attend next week’s Geneva Motor Show.
