Business Secretary writes to Stellantis in bid to pause Luton plant closure
Jonathan Reynolds met with Luton's MPs earlier this week
The Business Secretary has written to the parent company of Vauxhall, in a bit to pause their proposed closure of the Luton van plant.
Stellantis announced the decision earlier this month, sparking outrage from employees and the local community.
On Tuesday, Luton MPs Rachel Hopkins and Sarah Owen met with Jonathan Reynolds, expressing their concerns about the closure, alongside Unite the Union representatives, as protests took place at the plant.
The Business Secretary has now confirmed he has written to Stellantis "to ask them to pause their decision around redundancy processes to enable more time for discussions with Government about options to keep the plant open".
The letter, written to Rachel Hopkins MP, goes on to explain how the Government will support employees who will be made redundant, if Stellantis' current decision does go ahead.
Stellantis have previously said that hundred of jobs would be moved to the Ellesmere Port site in Cheshire, with 1,100 jobs at risk, without considering the wider impact on businesses and suppliers to the site.
Previously, Stellantis have said part of the decision was targets which need to be reached on the production of electric vehicles, to meet new targets.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Shutting the profitable Luton factory when it has just been made ready to produce electric vehicles from 2025 makes no sense. Time has now rightly been called on Carlos Tavares, whose counterproductive strategy of cutting Stellantis to the bone to artificially inflate profits has clearly failed.
“The opportunity is now there for Stellantis to prevent the needless destruction of its Luton operations. Unite is calling on the company to withdraw the deadline for redundancies that was imposed under Carlos Tavares’ regime and allow for proper negotiations between workers, management and government over the future of the plant.”
Jonathan Reynolds says Luton has a "talented workforce" and the Government will continue to work with MPs to "support maintaining skilled manufacturing jobs in the area".