Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's delight with Nissan 'massive vote of confidence' in Sunderland

"This is a massive vote of confidence in the North East."

Jeremy Hunt was in no doubt about the importance of Nissan's decision to make three new all-electric vehicles at its Sunderland plant.

The Chancellor was at the factory today, Friday, November 24, with PM Rishi Sunak as the firm announced it will produce new versions of the Juke, Qashqai and Leaf on Wearside.

"Nissan is a company that could have invested anywhere in the world but they say that the factory here in the North East is as productive as any of their factories in Japan and they want to back the people who work here," said Mr Hunt.

"They stopped the line, which they very rarely do, last night and told 2,000Nissan employees that they had chosen Sunderland to do the Juke and Qashqai.

"I think the North East should be really proud because this would not have happened if Nissan's investment, which started in 1986, had been anything other than the most fantastic success, which it has been

"I think it's a brilliant piece of news."

He declined to say how much the Government was investing other than an announced £15million in research and development: Obviously, we have commercial discussions with companies that want to invest in the UK but we don't divulge the contents of those discussions because they are confidential.

"This isn't, in the end, about subsidies - Nissan could have got subsidies from governments anywhere in the world. This is because Nissan want to be in the North East of England because they can see the potential of the people here to produce world-beating cars."

And Mr Hunt defended the Government's decision to move back a ban on the production of petrol and diesel vehicles by five years.

"I think we wanted to make sure that overall our automotive industry was not out of step with other countries but without slowing down the incredible progress we are making as a country towards EV transition.

"I think we needed to get the right balance and I think Nissan are content that we have done that."

Plant boss Adam Pinnock was part of the team that developed the original Qashqai: "I saw it in the clay models, I saw the engineering in Cranfield , to bring that back to the plant, to install, commission and launch the first generation, to have grown up through the company with the second and third generations, to have the honour of being vice-president of the plant is absolutely huge," he said.

"It is a fantastic day for Nissan and the wider region."

The new announcement would secure the future of the plant 'well into the next decade', he said.

"It's fantastic news for our 6,000 employees here at the plant - we gathered 2,000 of them together the last night to etll them the news and the buzz around the plant is fantastic.

"Three is our magic number - two more electric vehicles on top of the one we announced in 2021. That, in itself, is absolutely massive in terms of what it means for any automotive manufacturer to have three new cars."

Sunderland City Council city chief executive Patrick Melia said it was 'a really great day for the North East'

"It is a fantastic day for the city, building on the investment announced in 2021," h said.

"Three new electric vehicles being built in Sunderland really puts us at the forefront of the automotive industry across Europe. To produce those vehicles we need three gigafactories.

"That is a huge investment in the city, securing 7,000 jobs at Nissan and 30,000 in the supply chain."