Car production figures down 43% - Lucy Powell responds

Lucy Powell MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers, commenting on SMMT figures showing car production is down 43 per cent in the first half of the year as the automotive sector sheds more than 11,000 jobs amid the coronavirus crisis, said:

“These figures underline the crisis facing our manufacturing sector including automotive. Ministers are betraying communities and businesses up and down the country with their ill-judged blanket approach to the economic emergency we face.

“The Government must change track, and bring in sector specific support for industries in distress otherwise we’ll see the loss of thousands of highly paid, highly skilled jobs in communities that can ill afford to lose them.”

Ends

Notes to Editors

· UK car production down -42.8% in first half as sector sheds more than 11,000 jobs amid coronavirus crisis https://www.smmt.co.uk/2020/07/uk-car-production-down-42-8-in-first-half-as-sector-sheds-more-than-11000-jobs-amid-coronavirus-crisis/