Union for Sunderland's Nissan workers says delayed pay talks are 'disappointing' as Brexit uncertainty looms

Nissan has delayed pay talks for its staff until 2019.

The car giant, which employs around 8,000 people across the country with most based in Sunderland, has said talks will now be held in 2019.

A date for the discussions has not been confirmed, but the discussions had been due to start at around this time.

The Japanese firm, which supports a further 10,000 jobs across the country, has previously said a hard Brexit deal as the UK leaves the European Union at the end of next March would have "serious implications" for its operations.

It said Britain crashing out of the EU's single market and customs union into World Trading Organisation (WTO) rules would be detrimental to the business.

Earlier today, Nissan said: "A Nissan spokesman said: “In agreement with our employee representatives, the 2019/2020 pay negotiations in our UK plant and technical centre will commence in 2019 when we have better clarity on the future business outlook.

"Beyond this we will not be commenting on internal matters.”Responding to the decision by Nissan, a Unite spokesperson said: “This is disappointing news, but we have agreed this course of action with Nissan because of a lack of clarity on what Brexit means for the UK car industry.

"We have been assured that next year’s pay award will be back dated to January 2019 whenever we conclude negotiations.

"The delay is a further sign of the pressure that uncertainty surrounding Brexit is putting on the UK car industry.”