Vauxhall plant ‘may shift to Europe’

THE UK’s biggest trade union accused Boris Johnson of playing ‘No Deal roulette’ with thousands of jobs after a French car maker threatened to shut down its Vauxhall factory in Ellesmere Port.

Carlos Tavares, the boss of PSA Group, says it has already found a southern Europe site to build the Astra if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal and the Cheshire plant becomes unprofitable.

Closure of the North West factory would lead to the loss of more than 1,000 jobs, striking another crushing blow against Britain’s car industry. The factory makes the Vauxhall Astra as well as the Opel-branded versions sold across the Continent.

Unite’s Steve Turner said it had been in ‘positive discussions’ with PSA about building new models at the plant. But he said: ‘All that hard work is now hanging by a thread as Boris Johnson and his government of hard Brexiteers play No Deal roulette with the livelihoods of thousands of Vauxhall workers and colleagues in the supply chain.’