PM to meet PSA chief executive Carlos Tavares to discuss proposal that could affect thousands of British workers

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Theresa May is set to meet the chief executive of the PSA Group to discuss Peugeot’s proposals to buy General Motors’ European operation, including Vauxhall.



The prime minister has received a request for a meeting with Carlos Tavares to discuss the proposal, which could affect thousands of British workers.

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The Peugeot boss is also set to hold talks with the leader of Unite, Britain’s biggest union, to discuss the situation.



A Downing Street spokesman said: “We can confirm we have received a meeting request. The meeting will take place, in principle, subject to diary availability.”

The Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey, will meet Tavares next week in the latest in a series of talks he has held to help avoid any job losses.

He said: “I am pleased that Carlos Tavares has responded speedily and positively to my request for a meeting to discuss Peugeot’s intentions towards our Vauxhall plants.

“I will be using this meeting to press the case for the UK’s world class facilities and workforce, and ensuring that Mr Tavares and the PSA Group understand fully that Luton, Toddington and Ellesmere Port, and thousands of dedicated UK workers, deserve a strong backer and a positive future.”

Vauxhall’s 35,000-strong UK workforce includes 23,000 in its retail network, 300 at a customer contact centre in Luton and 7,000 in its supply chain alongside the 4,500 employed at factories at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire and Luton in Bedfordshire.

PSA said it was engaged in a “constructive dialogue” with all parties involved in the bid for GM’s European division.

A spokesman said: “Our intention is to establish the same maturity in our exchanges in France, Germany and the UK. This is why Carlos Tavares has asked to meet Theresa May as was done with German authorities.

“In the spirit of co-construction that is driving the PSA Group on a daily basis with its own trade union representatives in France, the same approach is obviously being taken to contact the trade union organisations in Germany and the UK.”

The business secretary, Greg Clark, travelled to Paris on Thursday to meet his French counterpart, Christophe Sirugue, and board members of PSA.

After the GM talks, Clark said he “emphasised the importance and successful presence of Vauxhall in the UK and welcomed GM’s recognition of the excellent and committed workforce” at Ellesmere Port and Luton.



“There is some way to go in discussions between GM and PSA, but I was reassured by GM’s intention, communicated to me, to build on the success of these operations rather than rationalise them,” he said.

The tie-up would involve GM leaving Europe, and PSA becoming the second-largest European carmaker with a 16% market share.

PSA, which owns the Citroën and Peugeot brands, formed an alliance with GM in 2012 in an attempt to streamline production by combining purchasing power and larger scale.

GM said last year it had to raise UK car prices by 2.5% after the plunge in the value of the pound after the EU referendum result caused the British car industry to hit a “speed bump”.

Announcing its full-year results last week, the Detroit-based company said GM Europe had narrowed losses to $257m (£206m) in the year to the end of December, from a loss of $813m the year before.