Labour accused of snub to car industry workers

Council backs Corbyn policy to build battery plants elsewhere

THE ruling Labour group in Birmingham has been accused of “not caring” about the car industry after it voted against a motion to back the construction of a “gigafactory” in the region.

Instead, Labour councillors backed national party policy to build giant battery factories in Stoke, South Wales and Swindon.

A Tory motion put before full council had called on the council to back West Midlands mayor Andy Street’s bid to build a gigafactory in the region.

But the motion was rejected by the Labour group, which put forward an amendment stating it “gives its full support to the Labour Party’s plan for a green industrial revolution”.

Conservative group leader Cllr Robert Alden said he was shocked to find the council was not supporting the motion at all, accusing Labour of “not supporting their industry”.

He said: “We expected that Labour would bring forward an amendment. “We probably thought they’d be a little bit cheeky and just try and remove Andy’s name from it.

“Actually, what they have done is, on the eve of a General Election, announced that they simply don’t support all those people working in the car industry here in the West Midlands.

“Because they’ve taken out the entirety of our motion, and instead put in that they back the Labour Party plan for creation of gigafactories, which explicitly has stated there won’t be one here in the West Midlands metropolitan area.

“If we think about that, there are 54,000 people employed within the car industry within the West Midlands.

“And to those people the Labour party have just said, ‘we’re not interested in supporting your industry.’”

Responding to the accusations, council leader Ian Ward said that the mayor did not have a concrete plan for the construction of a gigafactory.

He also accused the Conservatives of “hypocrisy” for speaking protecting jobs in the region.

He said: “I do find it somewhat rich for a party that has destroyed hundreds of thousands of jobs up and down this country during the last ten years of austerity, including 11,000 jobs in this city council, to be lecturing anyone about job creation.

about

“It won’t surprise you to learn that when this motion was tabled the first thing we did was to ask the combined authority for details of Andy Street’s bid, an outline business case, or any analysis being carried out.

“The response from the combined authority was short and sweet; ‘There is no business case or any analysis.’ In short, there is nothing to substantiate this Tory motion.

“Fortunately, the Labour Party is committed to changing lives by creating jobs and opportunities for the people of this city and the wider region, and shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey’s motion that a future Labour government will invest £5 billion to boost the development of electric cars and battery technology is just the start of a green industrial revolution.”

Following the row mayor Andy Street said he was “actively seeking out sites” for a gigafactory in the West Midlands, after his plan was accused of having no substance.

He said: “The West Midlands has an automotive cluster that features innovation centres, research centres, autonomous vehicle test beds, and major production plants.”

He added: “I will continue to press ahead in my attempts to secure a gigafactory for the region, actively seeking out sites and investment and lobbying the incoming Government.”

In short, there is nothing to substantiate this

Tory motion

Council leader Ian Ward

(Labour)