MPs call for action to save automotive jobs

It claims the Government is turning its back on its ‘levelling up’ pledge because a third of jobs in the struggling sector are in the region’s Parliamentary seats.

It wants targeted support for sectors that have been hit hardest by coronavirus threatening jobs and businesses.

The automotive sector has been one of the worst affected by coronavirus, with production down 99.7 per cent in April with car plants shut.

Of the 50 seats with the highest proportion of employment by the automotive industry, 14 are in the West Midlands including South Staffordshire with 1,500 jobs, mainly at the Jaguar Land Rover engine manufacturing centre at the i54; The Wrekin, 1,750 jobs; West Bromwich West, 1,250 and Lichfield, 1,000 jobs.

Those four are among the region’s seats represented by Conservative MPs.

Reason

The automotive industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, due largely to its dependence on exports and complex international supply chains.

Overall, car production was down by nearly half in the first half of the year, with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders estimating job losses of more than 11,000. For 2020 as a whole, the SMMT expects production to fall by nearly a third. Labour is calling for support for the industry and its supply chain.

Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers Lucy Powell said: “The UK’s world-leading automotive industry has been rocked by coronavirus and livelihoods are on the line, but Ministers won’t listen to reason and are refusing to recognise some sectors have been hit harder than others.

“They must urgently target support at the sectors that need it with a focus on creating skilled, green jobs - and do right by the communities across the UK they promised to protect.

“Anything less would be a betrayal of many communities which helped get Boris Johnson elected.”