£1BN INVESTMENT INTO FACTORY

RECRUITMENT is to start next week on a 1,000-job expansion of the AESC battery plant in Sunderland after a Government-led investment of £1bn.

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves was on Wearside to tour the battery company’s new plant being built near the Nissan factory.

The plant will supply batteries for Nissan's new electric vehicles, powering up to 100,000 vehicles each year in a major expansion for the company’s North East operations.

A guarantee of around £350m from the National Wealth Fund has unlocked funding of £680m from a number of banks, while a grant of £150m from the Government's Automotive Transformation Fund has also been pledged to the project.

The announcement comes a day after the Government signed a trade deal with the US that reduced tariffs on UK vehicles being sold in America, though Nissan was not hugely affected by the tariffs as it sells most of its vehicles to Europe.