Clark meets CEO of Vauxhall owner over job cuts
Business Secretary Greg Clark has flown to Paris to meet the chief executive of Vauxhall-owner PSA amid increasing concern the company is set to close its Ellesmere Port factory.
Clark’s mission to see Carlos Tavares was arranged before the announcement by PSA of 250 further job losses on top 400 axed in 2017.
However, concerns over the future of the Cheshire plant where 1,800 staff work are bound to be high on the agenda.
PSA bought Opel-Vauxhall in a £1.9bn deal last year, promising to turn the company round without site closures or job cuts.
Meanwhile, Len McCluskey, general secretary of the union Unite, has sounded a warning over the impact staff cuts and possibly closures would have on its market share.
Pledging also to meet Tavares within the next two weeks, he said: “I will make it crystal clear to the PSA boss Carlos Tavares that if there is any attempt to close the Ellesmere Port Vauxhall plant we will make sure their market in the UK is finished for good.”
PSA, which also owns Peugeot and Citroën, has cut its operations at Ellesmere Port to restore profitability.
It has still not decided whether to build new models at the Cheshire plant where the Astra is built, because of uncertainty about the future of Britain’s trading relationship with the European Union.
