The video will start in 8 Cancel

Sign up to our newsletter for the latest Sunderland news Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

The devastating impact of Nissan's potential exit from the North East has been revealed.

Sunderland could lose over £5m-a-year in business rates alone if the Japanese car manufacturer closes its Wearside factory post-Brexit.

ChronicleLive can reveal the huge sum the city pockets just from Nissan being there.

The car giant recently revealed planned job losses as it stops manufacturing certain models at its Washington plant, the biggest of its kind in Britain.

(Image: 2019 Getty Images)

And following a chaotic month at Westminster, bosses have again warned of "serious implications" if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

“Since 1986, the UK has been a production base for Nissan in Europe," said a spokesperson for the company, which employs 7,000 North East staff.

"Our British-based R&D and design teams support the development of products made in Sunderland, specifically for the European market.

“Frictionless trade has enabled the growth that has seen our Sunderland plant become the biggest factory in the history of the UK car industry, exporting more than half of its production to the EU.

(Image: Getty Images)

“Today we are among those companies with major investments in the UK who are still waiting for clarity on what the future trading relationship between the UK and the EU will look like.

“As a sudden change from those rules to the rules of the WTO will have serious implications for British industry, we urge UK and EU negotiators to work collaboratively towards an orderly balanced Brexit that will continue to encourage mutually beneficial trade.”

A Freedom of Information request to Sunderland City Council shows the amount it rakes in from Nissan in business rates has rocketed in recent years.

A year after passing the £5m mark for the first time, in 2018 the council netted £5.21m from the Japanese firm.

How the North East voted in the EU Referendum in June 2016 Newcastle: Remain 65,404 (50.7%); Leave 63,598 (49.3%) Sunderland: Remain 51,930 (38.7%); Leave 82,394 (61.3%) North Tyneside: Remain 52,873 (46.63%); Leave 60,589 (53.37%) Gateshead: Remain 44,429 (43.2%); Leave 58,529 (56.8%) South Tyneside: Remain 30,014 (38%); Leave 49,065 (62%) Durham: Remain 113,521 (42.5%); Leave 153,877 (57.5%) Northumberland: Remain 82,022 (46%); Leave 96,699 (54%)

The figure - which has grown annually - has more than doubled in just 13 years when, in 2005, it was just £2.3m.

Last month, Nissan announced the X-Trail model would be built in Japan - rather than Sunderland - citing“continuing uncertainty” around Brexit.

It came less three years after announcing it would be built here, citing Government assurances over Brexit.

It states it still plans to build its Juke and Qashqai models in Sunderland, which voted overwhelmingly to leave the EU.

But addressing the news, a Sunderland MP reacted with dismay to the news.

Labour’s Bridget Phillipson, MP for Houghton and Sunderland South, feared the announcement was "only the beginning".

"It is working people who will suffer the consequences," she told the Guardian.

And as uncertainty over Brexit rumbles on, the British car manufacturing industry has continued to struggle.

Last month, Honda announced it would close its only EU plant - in Swindon - threating 3,500 jobs.