Vauxhall has threatened to shut its Ellesmere Port factory, putting more than 1,000 jobs at risk (Picture: PA)

The owner of Vauxhall has warned the car giant will stop production at one of its UK factories if Brexit makes it unprofitable.

PSA chief executive Carlos Tavares said he would build future Vauxhall Astras and Opel Astras in southern Europe if Britain crashes out of the EU without a satisfactory agreement in place.

This would threaten the closure of the Ellesmere Port factory in Cheshire, putting more than 1,000 jobs at risk.

Vauxhall’s only other UK factory is in Luton, Bedfordshire, where it builds vans.


Mr Tavares told the Financial Times: ‘Frankly, I would prefer to put it (the Astra car) in Ellesmere Port but if the conditions are bad and I cannot make it profitable then I have to protect the rest of the company and I will not do it.’



He added: ‘We have an alternative to Ellesmere Port.’

PSA announced last month that it planned to build the next generation of the Astra at the factory, but warned that this was conditional on the final terms of the UK’s withdrawal from the bloc.

A Vauxhall employee works on a vehicle on the production line at the Ellesmere Port factory (Picture: AFP/Getty)

Car production has been falling in the UK over the past year, amid increasing pleas from the industry for a Brexit deal.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders told Boris Johnson on Friday that a no-deal Brexit was an ‘existential threat’ to the industry.

It wrote to the Prime Minister stating that withdrawing from the EU without an agreement could cost hundreds of thousands of jobs and create a hole in the economy.

The UK’s automotive industry has suffered a series of blows in recent months, with Honda announcing that it will close its Swindon factory in 2021, and Ford saying its Bridgend engine plant in South Wales will close in September 2020 with the loss of 1,700 jobs.

The Institute for Government (IfG) also advised Mr Johnson that a no-deal Brexit would dominate Government’s agenda ‘for years to come’.

The Prime Minister will need to kick-start the Government’s no-deal preparations immediately by moving thousands of public servants into operational facilities, the IfG said in a paper released on Sunday.

It added that Mr Johnson would also have to introduce legislation ensuring direct rule in Northern Ireland from October 31.

Regardless of these measures, after a no-deal Brexit the resources of the Parliament and civil service would be drained and struggling businesses would need Government support, the IfG paper said.

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