Jeremy Corbyn demands details of Government deal with Nissan to be made public

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called on the Government to release details of any deal it has made with Nissan after the firm announced two new models will be built in Sunderland.
Jeremy CorbynJeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn

Politicians and business leaders have been united in joy after today's announcement by Nissan that the new Qashqai and X-Trail models will be built in Sunderland.

However, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said any deal between the Government and Nissan should be out in the open.

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He said: "It must be made public, because it is public money that will be used if there are any inducements that have been offered and quite obviously, if you are offering big inducements to one industry or one manufacturer, then all the others will quite reasonably say, 'Well, what about us?'"

Mr Corbyn, who was on a visit to meet motor mechanic apprentices at the Regional Automotive Technology Hub at Blackburn College,added: "We are only a few months into Brexit and we don't know what the terms of the agreement are between Nissan and the Government.

"I'm pleased there's going to be continued investment in Sunderland that protects those jobs and obviously helps to develop manufacturing industry, but the concerns are still there. We have to have market access in Europe in order to keep British engineering industries going.

"Our bottom lines are market access in Europe and protection of environmental and working conditions that we have gained through membership of the European Union.

"We're leaving the European Union, the referendum is done, that's the decision, we respect that decision, we have got to work with it."