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• 4 new automotive plants are opening across the country, creating 500 new jobs
• Investment Minister Graham Stuart welcomes the news and £130 million foreign direct investment into the UK
• UK automotive sector exported £41 billion worth of products in 2017

Minister for Investment Graham Stuart today (Tuesday 3 July) welcomed £130 million of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the UK automotive sector, creating nearly 500 jobs in four new plants across the country.

The news comes following a report from EY which found the UK remains the number one destination for FDI in Europe in 2017 to 2018.

Thanks to support from the Department for International Trade, 4 separate companies from across the globe – including Steel & Alloy, Polytec and Magna – have all chosen to invest in the UK and open new automotive-related plants this month.

As the UK forms its own trade and investment policy for the first time in 4 decades, this marks the latest boost for a sector which exported £41.3 billion of products, including 1,340 000 vehicles, in 2017 – up from £37.8 million on 2016 – to over 160 international markets. According to SMMT, more than 137,000 new vehicles rolled off the UK’s production line this May.

This includes lucrative emerging non-EU markets such as China, to whom the UK exported £4.2 billion of automotive products last year – growth of 16.7% on 2016.

Minister for Investment, Graham Stuart said:

The opening of these 4 new plants is a fantastic example of investment pouring into the UK from around the world, which I witnessed in Oldbury. This is a clear sign of confidence in the strength of the UK’s automotive sector, which remains one of the most competitive in the world.

As an international economic department, this is an excellent example of the work that DIT – with its sector-specific expertise and capability – is doing to create jobs and prosperity for communities up and down the country.

The new factories across the country include:

• Magna International Inc: A new aluminium-casting factory in Telford to support Jaguar Land Rover, the £77.6 million investment from the Canadian company will create 295 jobs when at full capacity
• Polytec Ltd: A new facility in Telford will build bumpers and accessories for car manufacturers, including Jaguar Land Rover. Austria-based Polytec have invested £18 million in the project, which will create 100 jobs
• Steel & Alloy Ltd: £26 million investment by S&A’s Spanish parent company Gonvarri to build a steel processing plant in Oldbury, creating 60 jobs. Customers include Ford, JLR and BMW

The new openings are a further confirmation that the UK’s automotive sector remains one of the strongest of its type in the world, offering the highest value added per employee in car manufacturing of any European country, with competitive labour costs and low corporation tax.

Further information

• investors will be able to count on the UK automotive sector remaining as one of the most innovative in the world in years to come, with the government having committed to increasing public R&D spending to £12.5 billion by 2021 to 2022, and 2.4% of GDP by 2027 – the most significant increase of public R&D funding ever
• EY’s UK Attractiveness Survey 2018 shows that the UK leads Europe in FDI and is third in the world for inward FDI stock

Following the government’s announcement last summer that the preferred HS2 route would include a spur into Sheffield via Chesterfield, the Secretary of State has asked that electrification of this section of the Midland Main Line be included within the next hybrid Bill for HS2.

HS2 Ltd will begin its preparatory works with a series of land surveys to further inform the work programme. A public consultation on the works required for electrification will be undertaken at a later date, prior to any hybrid Bill being brought to Parliament.

An HS2 spokesperson said:

The benefits that HS2 will deliver are significant and should not be underestimated. The new railway will play a crucial role in rebalancing Britain’s economy; driving business growth, creating jobs and securing investment right across the country.

Ensuring the Midland Main Line is electrified between Clay Cross and Sheffield Midland Station will enable Chesterfield and the wider Sheffield City Region to benefit from direct services on the new high speed trains.

Lord Ahmad has today been appointed as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief.

The role, which supports the Prime Minister’s commitment to religious tolerance in the UK, will allow Lord Ahmad to demonstrate the country’s commitment to religious freedom by promoting inter-faith respect and dialogue internationally.

Lord Ahmad, who is also Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the UN at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, will promote the UK’s firm stance on religious tolerance abroad, helping to tackle religious discrimination in countries where minority faith groups face persecution.

The appointment underscores the Prime Minister’s commitment to tackling religious prejudice in all its forms and follows the government’s recent announcement of a further £1 million funding for places of worship that have been subjected to hate crime attacks.

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

Religious discrimination blights the lives of millions of people across the globe and leads to conflict and instability. Both here and abroad, individuals are being denied the basic right of being able to practise their faith free of fear.

Tolerance for those of different faiths is fundamental to our values, and is an issue I know is already of great importance to Lord Ahmad, who is constantly looking for fresh ways to promote religious liberty in his role as Minister for Human Rights at the Foreign Office.

I look forward to supporting him in this new role as he works with faith groups and governments across the world to raise understanding of religious persecution and what we can do to eliminate it.

The PM’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon said:

In too many parts of the world, religious minorities are persecuted, discriminated against and treated as second class citizens. As a man of faith, I feel this very keenly.

Freedom of Religion or Belief is a human right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It must be respected. People from all faiths or none should be free to practise as they wish. This respect is key to global stability, and is in all our interests.

I am delighted to have been appointed as the PM’s Special Envoy. I shall use the UK Government’s global network to reach across religious divides, seek the elimination of discrimination on the basis of religion or belief and bring different communities together.