A old social media post by Tony Blair’s former spokesman, Alastair Campbell, has been ridiculed by former Brexit Party MEP, Martin Daubney, regarding Britain’s business prospects post Brexit.
The social media post shared by Mr Daubney shows a post on Twitter in 2019 by Campbell, which reads: “If we leave, Nissan leave” – referring to the Brexit referendum, and when some large companies were debating whether to move branches and offices out of the UK due to uncertainties.
Poking fun at the written post, Martin Daubney claimed the “reality” in Nissan’s latest business move is to lead a “£2bn investment in UK electric car plant”, a headline which was posted alongside the hashtag “#DespiteBrexit”.
The Japanese firm is to build Qashqai and Juke models at the plant alongside the next generation of the electric Leaf, which is already produced there.
Nissan will spend £1.12bn on preparing its UK facilities and supply chain for the new models and training its workforce and the scheme hopes to save the jobs of about 6,000 workers directly, and thousands more across the UK.
A major new battery plant known as a “gigafactory” will also be needed and is being built by partner, AESC. Alongside this, the total new investment will be up to £2bn.
However, as reported by the BBC, Ashwani Gupra, Nissan’s chief operating officer who is no longer at the firm, said that the UK would struggle to remain competitive with other car-making countries because of higher manufacturing costs, elevated by energy bills and inflation.
The UK government has provided support for Nissan through the Automotive Transformation Fund, which received a £2bn top-up in the Autumn Statement on Wednesday.
Nissan’s announcement comes as an “investment zone” for North East England was confirmed by the government. It is the latest in a series of positive developments for the UK car industry.
Both Tata and BMW who own Jaguar Land Rover and Mini respectively, announced major investments in the UK.
Tata is investing £4bn in a battery factory to supply its brands while BMW is spending £600m on upgrading its factory to build electric MINIs.
