Labour slams Tories for “turning their back” on “levelling up” promise

Labour has condemned the Tories for “turning their back” on their “levelling up” pledge as data shows three in four jobs in the struggling automative industry are in areas that the Conservatives vowed to protect.

Responding to analysis of data from the business register and employment survey, Labour has today called for action to save the automotive sector, which saw production plummet 99.7% in April due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The party says the figures from the survey show that 76% of direct employment in the automotive industry are in constituencies that Boris Johnson promised to protect across the North, Midlands, Yorkshire and Wales.

Labour has highlighted that car production was down by nearly half in the first half of 2020, while the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has estimated over 11,000 job losses in the sector.

Lucy Powell said: “The UK’s world-leading automotive industry has been rocked by coronavirus and livelihoods are on the line. But ministers won’t listen to reason and are refusing to recognise some sectors have been hit harder than others.

“They must urgently target support at the sectors that need it with a focus on creating skilled, green jobs – and do right by the communities across the UK they promised to protect.”

The Tory campaign in the general election last year emphasised a ‘levelling up’ agenda across the country, promising to reverse years of chronic under-investment in the North and other regions outside of the south of England.

Reminding voters of this election pitch today, Labour’s shadow minister for business concluded that a failure to intervene “would be a betrayal of many communities which helped get Boris Johnson elected”.

According to the analysis, of the 50 seats with the highest proportion of employment in the automotive industry currently, the vast majority are in the North, Midlands, Yorkshire, and Wales.

The constituency with the highest proportion of jobs in the automotive sector are Washington and Sunderland West, which has 10,000 jobs and 22% of the areas workforce employed the automotive industry.

Johnson repeated his vow to “unite and to level up” in a speech made to the public in June this year, in which he also pledged to make sure the UK can “build, build, build” its way back to prosperity with a “new deal”.

But Labour leader Keir Starmer warned that the investment outlined by the Prime Minister was insufficient while TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady declared that Johnson had simply “rehashed old promises”.

Labour has repeatedly called for the Chancellor to rethink what it calls a “one-size-fits-all” approach to withdrawing the furlough scheme and for the government to extend targeted support to businesses in sectors where it is most needed.