Today I’m in the House of Commons leading a debate on supporting Britain’s car industry. Having grown up in Sunderland where every other household included someone who worked at Nissan, pride in our automotive industry is in my blood. But we have to look forward not back, and I’m therefore hugely proud that with me as Shadow Business Secretary, Labour has a plan to turbo charge electric car manufacturing.

It’s an ambitious plan, which would create 80,000 jobs, power 2 million electric vehicles, and add £30 billion to the UK’s economy. Any single one of these three goals would be transformative; together, they will transform the British labour market, clean up our air and help Britain ditch stagnation to become one of the fastest growing national economies.

I’ve travelled the country speaking to workers and leaders across the manufacturing sector, and I’m confident that our industrial strategy provides the UK automotive industry with the approach the sector says it urgently needs.

Why the urgency? Well, very sadly, the Conservative government have let many manufactures down, but especially car makers. The Tories have presided over a 37% fall in British motor manufacturing since they came to power in 2010. Annual UK car production fell by a whopping 10% last year. Eight in every ten cars produced in the UK are exported, and yet, exports of cars manufactured in the UK fell by 14% in 2022.

Furthermore, the government is now entirely throwing British motor manufacturers under the bus. Rather than co-operate with the EU to suspend a ratcheting-up in rules of origin requirements until 2027, the government will facilitate the imposition of 10% tariffs from January 1st next year. This is entirely avoidable, and will pass on more cost to British people already struggling with a cost-of-living crisis, and make the green transition unaffordable for millions of Brits.

It will send Britain further towards the scrap heap while other countries race ahead with manufacturing sectors fit for the future. The UK now lags behind the rest of the world in terms of global automotive manufacturing relative to GDP – ranking 6th in Europe, and 17th in the world in 2022. By 2025 Germany is set to have ten times more battery capacity than the UK, and America is set to have thirty times more capacity. Why is this Government failing so badly to make the UK a leader in electric vehicle manufacturing?

The choice is stark. It’s a clear plan to save and green the car industry under Labour, or further decline under the Conservatives. It is becoming clearer who the public would like behind the wheel.