LETTER: Ministers need to help car industry

With more faltering consumer confidence, combined with the government’s aggressive approach to diesel and it’s “red lines” determining the UK trading relationship with Europe, more harm is approaching Britain’s car industry.

As Jaguar Land Rover confirmed plans to lay-off 1,000 workers in the West Midlands, this news should be sending a wake up call to ministers and alarm bells ringing in high levels of government.
Confusion over diesel cars fuelled by badly thought through ministerial announcements, plus faltering consumer confidence linked with Brexit uncertainty are major factors behind this latest blow for our car industry.

Jaguar Land Rover is a powerhouse for the West Midlands economy and a source of decent well paid jobs. News of these lay-offs will be very unsettling for workers and their families and will send shockwaves through to the supply chain.

This is where the fear lies with the toll on jobs reaching a wider scale and could mean thousands more jobs being at risk.

Losses on this scale must see concerted government action, locally and nationally.

Meanwhile, the society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders showed that new registrations across the UK industry fell in March by 15.7 per cent compared with the same month last year with diesel registrations down by 32.2 per cent.

The influential trade body cited economic and political uncertainty and confusion over air quality plans as the main factors affecting confidence, resulting in declines across all sales types.

Time and again auto industry companies like Jaguar Land Rover, tell us that they need existing trading relationships to prevail once we leave the European Union.

Surely this is a wake-up call and the government have to say without any doubt they will embrace these trading relations that will retain vital skills in the auto industry.

Going forward, Ministers also need to help ensure a just transition from diesel and petrol engines to electric powered vehicles to secure decent high skilled jobs in the UK as part of a vibrant industrial strategy.

Rodney Sadd
Carrington Road
Spalding