I met with Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and Britishvolt Chairman Peter Rolton yesterday morning in Cambois to discuss the gigafactory and the recent issues Britishvolt have been facing.

While a number of reports in the national press this week painted a bleak picture for Britishvolt, they have secured some emergency funding to keep them going for a short period of time while they attempt to attract more long term investment. This is despite the government not agreeing to release £30m of the £100m promised to Britishvolt that they asked for to keep them afloat.

This project has the potential to transform the economic landscape of South East Northumberland, providing thousands of well paid, local jobs in a long held back region. This gigafactory was hailed as a key development in the government’s levelling up plans, and if they were serious about improving long held back regions areas like in South East Northumberland then they should be throwing their full support and financial backing behind Britishvolt and this gigafactory.

In January when Kwasi Kwarteng visited the site in his capacity as the Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy, he claimed that “This investment is enormously significant. We’re talking about billions of pounds of investment, 8,000 jobs and the re-industrialisation of the UK and the region. We look at a pretty rigorous programme when it comes to investment, but I was satisfied, as were my colleagues across Government, that this is a really good use of taxpayers’ money that can bring in billions of pounds of investment.” Yet to this day they have not received a penny from the government.

Over the past few weeks I have been in constant dialogue with senior members of the team at Britishvolt as they desperately try and raise funds and get the government to release the money promised to them so they could stay afloat and attract further investment.

Unfortunately Britishvolt have been met with a brick wall by the government who have been embroiled in their own chaos leaving them with no accountable decision makers and ministers in jobs for a matter of weeks unable to get anything done. As a result, thousands of well paid, local jobs in an important emerging market in Northumberland are in jeopardy.

While Britishvolt have these additional funds I will be doing everything I can to support them in securing more investment to get the site up and running as soon as possible. If this does not succeed I remain hopeful that another company will be able to take over the site in Cambois, which has been described as the best in the UK, to build their own gigafactory and secure these jobs for the region that are so important.