Lord Woodley (Lab)

My Lords, I declare an interest: three generations of my family have worked at Vauxhall. My sympathies go out to the Luton plant. I thank the Minister for meeting me and the former chief executive of Vauxhall last week to discuss the difficulties surrounding Stellantis. The noble Lord, Lord Fox, covered most of my points admirably, and I thank him for that. There is no doubt that the ZEV mandate has been and still is a problem, and it needs changing now or this will not be the last problem we have. The plant at Luton is profitable, and it is not 1,100 workers losing their jobs but 4,000-plus when we add the component supporters. Maybe there are cynics among us who would say that the Government have not tried and that this situation does not have a great deal to do with the ZEV mandate but rather relates to the value of the land that sits alongside the airport at Luton. I would not like to be a cynic, but I sincerely hope—in line with the demands of my union, Unite, for this company to be pushed to rethink its closure strategy—that it is made sure that, if the land is sold, it is sold for industrial purposes and not for housing. I would like to hear the Minister’s comments about that. However, this is not over; we have a lot of work to do and my people at Luton are determined to fight this. I wish them the very best of good fortune.