The warnings from Stellantis are deeply concerning for constituents' livelihoods. Despite efforts to secure electric vehicle production, there is frustration over complacency from the Government. Urgent action is needed: increase UK-manufactured parts, update trading relationships with the EU, and ensure a proper industrial strategy.

A proposed gigafactory at Coventry Airport adjacent to the Battery Innovation Centre is vital for the west midlands in transitioning to electric vehicles. Will the Government provide support?

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Justin Madders) for securing this urgent question on an area of fundamental importance not just to his constituency, but to the prosperity of the whole country. For months now, Labour and industry have been warning the Government that this cliff edge was coming. It is a statement of the blindingly obvious that the lack of battery-making capacity in the UK, combined with changes to the rules of origin, was a car crash waiting to happen. Without domestic batteries, there will be no domestic automotive industry in the UK, yet the Government have no strategy to bring in the investment and infrastructure needed, and the rules of origin just make that even more compelling.

To secure the future of our vital automotive sector, we need to manufacture batteries in the UK. The industrial strategy established the Faraday challenge to build on our cutting-edge research capability. While the strategy is vital and must be refreshed and continued, it is necessary but not sufficient; we need activism. When Mrs Thatcher lured Nissan and Toyota to this country, she travelled to Japan to make the case for locating here. Does that level of activism exist in the Government, and will the Minister commit to ensuring that we have those investments from companies around the world in the UK?

The Minister is sticking her fingers in her ears and burying her head in the sand on this question. The Government were told time and time again about the rules of origin issues, and the car industry seems to be another casualty of the Government’s damaging Brexit. Increasing the uptake of low-emission vehicles is vital to meeting our net zero goals, but the UK’s disastrous trade deals are making the domestic manufacture of those vehicles impossible. Has the Minister made an estimate of how many job losses it would lead to if Stellantis closed its UK factories as a result of Brexit?

Many of my constituents work at the Vauxhall Luton van factory, which makes the incredibly successful Vivaro, so this issue really matters to them and to me, and it matters for our industrial future. Will the Minister flesh out in a little more detail the plan to get more battery manufacturing capacity here in the United Kingdom? When will there be announcements?

The story overnight came from written submissions to my Committee’s inquiry on the future of battery manufacturing in the UK. The Minister will know two things: that she and her departmental officials are in ongoing negotiations with other car manufacturers in the UK beyond Stellantis, and that all the car companies are raising exactly the same issues and are asking for a step up in activity from the Government and an end-to-end industrial strategy to show that the UK is serious about the future of UK production of electric vehicles.

Manufacturing and industry in this country are an ecosystem, and when we start to lose chunks of it, that not only devastates communities but affects wider supply-chain businesses. The Minister will know that steel is crucial to car manufacturing. Can she reassure me and my constituents that she is considering those supply-chain businesses and doing everything she can to ensure that we have a level playing field in this country, not just for the steel industry but for manufacturing more widely?

Recharge Industries, the organisation that bought out Britishvolt, is committed to building a gigafactory on the Britishvolt site in Cambois in my constituency. However, there is a huge issue with Northumberland County Council relating to a buyback proposal on the land of the proposed gigafactory. Will the Minister please intervene to facilitate discussions between all parties to ensure that we are not let down again at the site in Cambois, and that Recharge Industries gets every support it needs from the Government to build that gigafactory and bring 9,000 jobs to the north-east?

I am very proud to have the Vauxhall van plant in my constituency. Will she accept an invitation to Luton South to visit the Vauxhall van plant and speak with workers there, and their representatives, to see how Government decisions impact on people’s lives?

In a written answer to me in November last year, the Minister said: “The Government is committed to securing investment into the automotive sector, which will play an important role in levelling up across the UK and driving down emissions to net zero by 2050.” In the light of that, today’s intervention by Stellantis is extremely worrying. If the Government cannot get an agreement to keep the current rules until 2027, what assessment have they made of the effect that the 10% tariff will have on the UK car manufacturing industry?

Stellantis’ warning that it might be forced to close its UK factories will be greeted with dread by the large number of my constituents who work in the Vauxhall car plant in Ellesmere Port, where I myself was employed for many decades. The automotive sector now faces an existential threat as a result of the Government’s recklessness in setting such ambitious rules of origin targets, with no clear plan on how they would be delivered. With 800,000 jobs hanging in the balance, can the Minister confirm that the Government are prepared to sober up, get real, and work with the EU to revisit the rules of origin requirements in the trade and co-operation agreement?

As the Minister will be aware, Sunderland is home to Nissan—it is in my constituency—and there are thankfully already shovels in the ground for the Envision AESC’s battery gigafactory. The sustainability of other UK manufacturing operations is at massive risk because the Government are incapable of seeing through any strategy. When will the Government renegotiate the trade and co-operation agreement?

The transition to electric vehicles means not only new battery and engine factories, but significant investment in car component factories such as Gestamp in my constituency. What are the Government going to do to reduce energy costs both now and in the long term, provide a coherent industrial vision and strategy, and real incentives for companies such as Gestamp to invest their new lines here in the UK?

Never has an industrial strategy been more needed, and never have a Government been found more wanting. We currently have only 2.5 GW of production with Envision. The Chancellor’s speech to the automotive industry last May was brief and disrespectful, affecting international investment as countries like the US, Germany, France, and Spain offer better incentives. I urge the Minister to convene a cross-party meeting with the Automotive Council to address this crisis.

The UK has the largest queue to connect to the grid of any European country, hindering car manufacturing industry investment. Grid connectivity issues like National Grid’s delays are deterring companies from setting up new plants here. What conversations is the Minister having with colleagues to resolve these issues?

The Minister should address the lack of conventional traction battery manufacturing capacity in the UK now rather than future exotic technologies. What will be done to attract automotive FDI to Scotland?

Levelling up requires an industrial strategy matching historical skills to new job opportunities. Oldham Batteries in Tameside closed in 2002, but those skills remain relevant today. How will future job opportunities match existing skills?

Inadequate road infrastructure hinders private and commercial EV adoption. Will mandated regional targets be implemented to ensure all parts of the country get necessary charging infrastructure?