Latest Sunderland Nissan plant speculation is more petty Brexit point-scoring

On Monday night rumours were swirling on social media that Nissan’s car manufacturing plant in Sunderland, which employees 7,000 people, was to close. The source of the stories was apparently an anonymous manager at the Japanese carmaker who apparently told Germany’s leading autotrade journal, Automobilwoche, that: “Nissan plans to close its Sunderland plant… A decision has been made and it’s not favourable to the UK.” 

Twitter went into overdrive, with some observers reporting with glee that Sunderland – where people overwhelmingly voted to leave the EU – was getting its just deserts. For many Remainers, the supposed remarks of an anonymous German source was seen as proof they had been right all along, not only about Brexit but also about dire irresponsibility of Johnson’s arch-Brexit government. For an unpleasant and vocal minority, the news of so many job losses was an occasion to celebrate and petty point scoring, a comeuppance for Sunderland voters’ who were so dim as to vote to leave the European Union. It was a moment of unseemly schadenfreude. 

Whether the news was true or not was irrelevant to those with tweeted the reports wich such  joy.  Nissan has since flatly denied the claims. However, the rumours do reflect the genuine anxieties, and arguments, surrounding the future of the Nissan plant since the UK’s 2016 referendum. 

During the campaign itself, those who campaigned for the UK to remain in the European Union argued that Brexit would lead to the plant’s closure while Leavers found themselves facing a lawsuit from Nissan after they used the company’s logo on leaflets declaring that big employers would stay in the UK no matter what the outcome of the referendum. 

Since then, every new development at the plant has been watched like a hawk on both sides of Brexit and Nissan has become totemic to the war still smouldering between both sides.   

Keeping Nissan has become political as well as economically important for the Sunderland regiong. In October 2016, newly-anointed Prime Minister Theresa May moved to offer personal assurances to Nissan that the UK would remain a competitive manufacturing base. These assurances apparently included a secret £60-80 million state aid sweetener, which was relentlessly spun by both sides. Depending on your political inclinations it was either a canny move to settle businesses’ nerves and cut in to Labour’s Red Wall, or it was proof that Brexit was so disastrous the UK was reduced to bribing companies not to flee.

Then, Nissan’s decision, made in 2019, that it would not build its X-Trail model in Sunderland as planned revived jitters about the future, as did Boris’ ditching of May’s deal. 

Still, the twists and turns were not over. Things seemed to look decidedly up this year this year. Nissan first committed to invest £400 million in the Sunderland plant. Then, later in the year, it announced further plans to move manufacture of some of its most popular models from Barcelona to Sunderland this plant. 

So why have rumours begun to resurface about this totemic issue in the press war between Britain’s Remainers and Brexiteers? Well, with the Brexit negotiations going to the wire, doubts and anxieties about the longer-term future of the Sunderland plant have once again been aggravated.

Throughout the last few years, Nissan has clearly stated that unless the UK has a working trading relationship with the EU, the Sunderland plant will not be viable.  This sentiment was reiterated by its chief operating officer, Ashwani Gupta, just last week. In an interview with Reuters he said, when asked about Brexit, that “If it happens without any sustainable business case obviously it is not a question of Sunderland or not Sunderland, obviously our UK business will not be sustainable, that’s it”.  

Indeed, the Sunderland plant is heavily reliant on the EU market. Some 70% of cars manufactured at the plant are exported to the EU. If Britain fails to secure a deal, and is forced to operate on WTO terms, this will mean a 10% tariff on cars going into the EU.  

The EU-Japan free trade signed in 2019 also gave the EU 8 years to eliminate tariffs on cars manufactured in Japan. Should Nissan wish to keep a foothold in the EU car market, then simply shifting production back to its home base could be a tempting option, if the remaining tariff barriers continue to be removed. 

Ultimately, regardless of one’s position on the merits of Brexit, the only healthy attitude is to hope for the best possible outcome for all whose livelihoods are tied to Nissan’s business in the UK.  At the same time, if this week’s last-minute Brexit talks fail, or if they deliver a deal unable to keep Nissan’s business in the UK, the workers in Sunderland would be equally justified in their sense of anger at the government.