Andrew Marr: The collapse of electric battery maker BritishVolt matters more than the PM doling out public money

19 January 2023, 18:19

The collapse of electric battery maker BritishVolt this week matters more than the PM doling out public money for levelling up, Andrew Marr has said.

Opening LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr, the presenter addressed Rishi Sunak's visit up north to mark the latest round of levelling up funding being announced.

"The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has been [in the north] today, doling out blobs of money like some shiny smiley uncle in a good mood with the children; and there have been the predictable political tears and foot-stamping about which bits of the country got exactly which blobs of money," Andrew said.

"No fair! Boo-hoo! And what about me sir? Andy Street, the Tory mayor of the West Midlands likened it to the prime minister forcing local areas to rattle a begging bowl.

"And why has this embarrassing performance been focused on the north? Because the English North is poor. It didn't used to be.

"Once, on both sides of the Pennines it was the throbbing, restless, risk-taking, heart of the Industrial Revolution - the turbines and guns for the most modern warships, the mills that clothed the West, the factories everywhere cranking out a thousand useful devices.

"And still today, if levelling up means anything - a big if folks - it doesn't mean doling out blobs of money from a government sack but actually helping this part of the British Isles find its purpose in the modern world. That means making stuff people want.

"Remember the story about giving a hungry man a fish, or giving him a fishing rod and teaching him to catch his own?

"And this, to me, is why the collapse of the electric battery maker BritishVolt this week matters so much more than what the prime minister's been doing today."

Watch Tonight with Andrew Marr exclusively on Global Player every Monday to Thursday from 6pm to 7pm

Andrew Marr: PM doling out public money up north amid collapse of BritishVolt

Andrew continued: "The failure of the company is I'm sure a complicated story and quite a lot will be the company's own fault - promising too much, blowing cash on facilities and treats for the top brass, the usual stuff.

"But part of this story is lack of deep, committed government support - a coherent industrial policy. That's what the North needed.

"Electric cars, electric bikes, electric vans, electric everything - in a decarbonising world that's the future. That's the big prize.

"BritishVolt was supposed to be producing hundreds of thousands of lithium batteries built by thousands of engineers.

"It was supposed to be Britain's answer to Tesla. And now... it's gone.

You can also listen to the podcast Tonight with Andrew Marr only on Global Player.

"And by the way the batteries and the cars will be made, just not here.

"All across Europe electric battery factories are being built, up to 35 of them, in Sweden, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Italy. Why not here? Because we are close to being out of this race for a better future.

"Not yet, not completely, because there's a factory in Sunderland opening up to supply Nissan.

"But that's relatively small-scale as a time when the EU is planning to provide a third of the World's battery cells by 2030, never mind China and the US.

"So hooray. Let's wave our flat caps for a repainted High Street here and a new tourist project there but if you're really talking about making life in the north better, that means better jobs, better skills. And that means an industrial strategy.

"Rishi Sunak came from the world of investment and Californian can-do.

"He was supposed to understand business better than any Prime Minister in recent times.

"I just ask this: was doling out public money a better use of his time today than settling quietly down and trying to understand what happened at BritishVolt - because it's a disaster for the UK - and discovering whether, even beyond the 11th hour, there isn't something a hands-on British government couldn't have done to help?"