Stellantis may be premature in saying Brexit deal will force closures, but Government needs a serious policy

Has Stellantis, the owner of Vauxhall, sounded the death knell for the (already shrunken) volume end of the UK car industry? Does the group’s warning that it could shut its UK operations unless post-Brexit trading rules are renegotiated represent an existential threat to the sector, as some voices immediately declared?

Well, it obviously isn’t possible to put a positive spin on Stellantis’s submission to the business select committee. It is less than two years since the company, which also produces Peugeot, Citroën and Fiat vehicles, announced a £100m investment in light electric vans in Ellesmere Port, complete with government backing.