Business Secretary expresses 'frustration' at Honda's decision to close Swindon car plant, as Corbyn touts Labour plans for 'large-scale' green investment
Business Secretary Greg Clark sought to defend the government's clean growth and Brexit agendas today, as he attempted to manage the fallout from Honda's decision to close its Swindon factory citing the need to increase its focus on the global electric vehicle (EV) market.
Speaking at a manufacturing industry event in Westminster this afternoon, the senior cabinet member said his priority was to ensure a successful Brexit and avoid a no-deal cliff edge for businesses. He argued that delivering a workable Brexit deal would help the UK to seize the "amazing" opportunities from a Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Clark said he recognised manufacturers' fears about the potential negative no-deal impacts on customs barriers, logistics, and migration were not "project fear, but project reality", adding it was "unacceptable" that a deal had not yet been agreed in Westminster.
"I hope that we can in a short space of time agree a deal… and we can make the UK as synonymous with the Fourth Industrial Revolution as we are in the history books with the First," he said, highlighting government support for new skills development, clean energy, EVs, and autonomous vehicles.
"As we embrace new technologies, it won't be just technologies, it will people and technologies," Clark said. "No one should be left behind by new technologies sweeping this industry."
However, his comments followed Honda's decision to cease production at its car manufacturing plant in Swindon by 2021, which is expected to results in the loss of around 3,500 jobs.
The move prompted criticism of the government from green groups over the UK's failure to adopt a more ambitious target date for switching to ultra-low emission vehicles.
Honda cited "unprecedented changes" facing the global car industry as a result of the emergence of EVs, which it envisages making up around two thirds of its sales - alongside plug-in hybrids - by 2030. It said the closure of its Swindon plant, which makes combustion engine cars, was part of a global restructuring strategy aimed at boosting EV production.
Clark conceded Honda's decision this morning was a blow for the UK, but insisted there were "huge opportunities" for electric and autonomous transport in the UK, and that there was still "every reason" for the UK to become a "world leader" in the green transport.
"One of the things that frustrates me about the Honda decision is that they are accelerating the move into electric vehicles, and I think in a few years' time it will be evident that the results of the investment we are making - into being the leader in the next generation of battery technology and a test bed for autonomous vehicles - will give us the chance to lead the automotive sector of the future," said Clark. "We are determined to do that."
He also highlighted energy storage as a priority for the government over the coming year as part of its Industrial Strategy, arguing that such technologies would play a key role in its Sector Deals with the offshore wind and automotive industries to help spur further investment.
"The application of many of these technologies in the automotive sector into energy storage - to make the greatest use of what is now a leading industry in the UK for offshore wind, we need to be able to store it," he explained.
The Business Secretary's comments came at Make UK's conference in London today, where the manufacturing trade body announced a it has rebranded from its previous name, EEF.
Speaking later this afternoon, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn slammed the government's "shambolic" handling of Brexit and claimed the lack of investment in the manufacturing sector had left the UK "ill-prepared for profound changes in the economy".
Corbyn added that Honda's "devastating" decision, which follows similar moves from other car firms to pull investment in the UK, was "just the thin end of the wedge" of Brexit concerns across Britain's car industry. He again urged the Prime Minister to rule out a no-deal and back Labour's Brexit proposals.
Reiterating Labour's plans for a green jobs revolution, he said a Labour government would kick-start a "renaissance" in UK manufacturing with "large-scale" public investment in green innovation, infrastructure, and skills after "decades of neglect".
"To avoid climate catastrophe we have to reduce emissions to zero by 2050 at the latest," Corbyn said. "This not going to happen by itself. It requires large-scale public invest in to renewable energy and home insulation, which will in turn create new opportunities. This is not a burden, this is an opportunity to kick-start a green jobs revolution."
He also announced a new Commission on Lifelong Learning, which he said would bring together 14 experts to develop an inclusive adult education plan to "transform the lives of millions and reskill our economy".
Under Labour's investment plans, he promised 400,000 new skilled jobs, a seven-fold increase in offshore wind capacity, double onshore wind capacity and a tripling in energy from solar power.
"Technology and manufacturing don't have to be a threat to our environment," he added. "Our responsibility is to develop the next generation of technology that will help us protect the natural world and preserve our natural resource. Labour committed to invest on a scale that will transform our economy."
Earlier in the day in Birmingham, the government sought to allay growing Brexit fears across the UK's farming industry, with Environment Secretary Michael Gove reiterating his pledge that UK environmental standards would not be watered down after Brexit in order to open the door to a surge in food imports from the US.
"We have been clear - across government, from the Prime Minister down - that we will not lower our standards in pursuit of trade deals, and that we will use all the tools at our disposal to make sure the standards are protected and you are not left at a competitive disadvantage," he told the National Farmers' Union (NFU) conference.
Gove also welcomed the NFU's recent commitment for the agriculture sector to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 "as precisely the sort of leadership on the environment the world needs to see".