[Youngian]

Redwood says something really stupid every day but he still excels himself. As international diesel car production ceases, John sees a gap in the market for British manufacturers. The UK could become a diesel superpower.

[Bones McCoy]

Funny that, during Autumn he battery factory was one of the highlights of Brexit.

[Youngian]

Sounded like a viable proposition even with Brexit as the UK still has vehicle manufacturing capabilities. The potential investors for the battery factory are more clued up than I am about where this sector’s future is heading and it don’t look good.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Isn't it the case that government support wasn't forthcoming - despite the freedom to do same was one of the Brexit 'benefits'?*



*It wasn't.

[Youngian]

The factory may have well have received further government money if it could raise match funding from private investors. When a firm can’t it’s most likely a turkey. Unless your country’s run by a demagogue handing out money like a drunken sailor to be loved. Which we were when this project started.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

A little bit of government support would have helped bring in investors...



Redwood = TAPS

[Tubby Isaacs]

A little bit of government support would have helped bring in investors...



Redwood = TAPS

It might have done, though there's a good reason that Lord Cockfield persuaded the EU that too much of this stuff is bad. See the US where states and municipalities get ripped off all the time.

[Youngian]

There’s no sign of the government creating a market as there is in France with go-green EV conversion subsidies. A French battery plant also has a massive single market with growth that private investors like. It’s grim they can’t see any growth potential in the UK. There’s also generous subsidies for the low paid in France to trade in for an electric car. Like those zippy little ones Peugeot, Renault and Citroen make.

[Tubby Isaacs]

That’s state aid with a forward plan. Not like the Scottish Government writing blank checks in return for some “shipyards on the Clyde” symbolism.

[Samanfur]

The official line in the HoC was that the factory was supposed to attract private investment, and it wasn't the government's job to support it.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Never is with the Tories, is it?

Unless it's someone from your club, stable or golf links.

[Youngian]

Whada we gonna do with the drunken sailor? Shake him down for £800m

When Britishvolt started gaining momentum with its plan to build a giant battery factory in north-east England, its timing could barely have been better. The then prime minister, Boris Johnson, was on the lookout for big projects that could bring jobs to poorer areas of the country and burnish his green credentials.

Britishvolt was incorporated on New Year’s Eve in 2019 by the Swedish businessmen Orral Nadjari and Lars Carlstrom. They set about drumming up investment and media coverage despite starting with no track record with the technology, no source of the £3.8bn in funding they estimated was required and – crucially – no guaranteed customers.

Both of its co-founders had departed by August this year. Ex-Ford executive Graham Hoare led an effort to professionalise the operation, amid questions over extravagant practices within the startup, revealed by the Guardian. They included leasing a seven-bedroom £2.8m mansion with an indoor swimming pool and Jacuzzi for executives, hiring a Dubai-based fitness instructor to conduct yoga classes for staff over video, and travelling in a private jet owned by one of its billionaire shareholders.

The proposed site is still a muddy field, albeit with some important earthworks having been carried out. However, there is still thought to be significant interest in the property, whether or not Britishvolt survives.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... rt-patient

BBC ‘analysis’ of the collapse of BritishVolt. Contains no analysis just filibustering to avoid the B word. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-64306261

[Andy McDandy]

As a keen fan of the writer Jake Arnott, I'm seeing distinct parallels to "Starksville" from The Long Firm. Except that was a Nigerian con man pulling a fast one on a British gangster desperate for something resembling a legacy, and a metaphor for Britain in decline...oh, right...

[Youngian]

Was it part of Austin Rover bailed out in the Blair years that collapsed but not before a few million made its way into directors’ pension funds and dividend payments? All legal IIRC.

[davidjay]

Was it part of Austin Rover bailed out in the Blair years that collapsed but not before a few million made its way into directors’ pension funds and dividend payments? All legal IIRC.

I think they were sold to a consortium who did just that.

[Watchman]

I have the same recollection as Mr Jay. If I remember correctly, part of the “new” consortium were from the old regime

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I have the same recollection as Mr Jay. If I remember correctly, part of the “new” consortium were from the old regime

Nepmen