Tories accuse First Minister of allowing 7,000 job Britishvolt gigafactory to slip through his fingers

The project was first mooted for South Wales before Britishvolt decided to invest in Northumberland

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Sion BarryMedia Wales Business Editor

16:06, 15 FEB 2022
Updated16:37, 15 FEB 2022

Undated artist impression issued by Britishvolt of their first full scale ��Ƶ battery gigaplant in Northumberland. — Artist impression issued by Britishvolt of their first full scale ��Ƶ battery gigaplant in Northumberland. (Image: PA)

The Tories have accused First Minister Mark Drakeford of allowing the Britishvolt gigafactory project, creating 7,000 direct and indirect jobs, to slip through his fingers at a huge cost to the Welsh economy.

Despite initial scepticism about the start-up firm’s ability to raise the finance, Britishvolt has recently confirmed it has secured £1.7bn in backing, including £100m from the ��Ƶ Government’s Automotive Transformation Fund, for an electric vehicle battery factory in Blyth in the north east of England. It is scheduled to open in 2023.

The project was first mooted for the Welsh Government-owned Bro Tathan business park in St Athan, after Britishvolt had identified it as its preferred location in the ��Ƶ.

It then entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Cardiff Bay administration in 2020. However, it was only a short-lived affair with both parties announcing a ‘by mutual consent divorce’ in the December of that year, saying that the St Athan site couldn’t be delivered to Britishvolt’s timeframes.

However, correspondence obtained by BusinessLive Wales highlight a number of non funding concerns and issues that Britishvolt were looking for the Welsh Government to resolve to progress its St Athan option.

This included wanting the planning boundary expanded to make the site large enough. This required the acquisition of more land from local landlords. Half the site was deemed to be in flood zone, which also needed to be rectified. While not a devolved matter, the Bro Tathan site would also have required a connection to the National Grid, with the huge energy requirements needs of a gigafactory.

They were also looking for approval for a large scale solar farm to provide a renewable energy source and that the scheme be taken out of Bro Tathan, which is owned by the Welsh Government, and made stand alone in relation to service charges. Highway access concerns to the proposed site were also raised.

At a plenary session in the Senedd Welsh Conservative leader, Andrew RT Davies, told Mr Drakeford that the scheme “has slipped through your fingers,” adding that its leaking out of Wales was at a “huge cost to our economy.”

Speaking after the exchange Mr Davies said: “Britishvolt opening a gigafactory in Wales would’ve been a real shot in the arm for our economy with 7,000 jobs created and billions of pounds in investment.

“But sadly, Labour let this major deal fall through with some insiders saying the scheme was ‘never a top priority’ for the government in Cardiff Bay.

“Thanks to Labour’s mismanagement, Wales has lost out on high quality, well-paid and environmentally friendly jobs – something they should be working tirelessly to attract.

“Two decades of Labour running the economy in Wales was quite accurately summed by a member of the Labour government who said ‘we don’t really know what we’re doing on the economy.’ They simply can’t be trusted with the Welsh economy.”

Mr Davies also called on the First Minister to publish the conclusions of a report into how the Britishvolt project was handled, which is being carried by officials with external support from Chris Sutton, a leading adviser in the Welsh industrial property sector.

In response Mr Drakeford said the loss of the project wasn’t due to any ‘lacklustre’ engagement with Britishvolt, who he said the Welsh Government remained in dialogue with over plans for a potential second investment in the ��Ƶ.

Mr Drakeford added: “The Welsh Government was in conversations with Britishvolt and the St Athan site was one of the main sites they considered, but in the end they decided that their first investment would be elsewhere.

"As a company they are ambitious to do more in the field of battery development and we continue to be in conversations with them and if it is possible to bring that development to South Wales then of course the Welsh Government remains actively interested and engaged with that alongside many other opportunities.”

On the current review into how the gigafactory project was handled by officials he said: “It is important to reflect on the experience of our initial discussions with that company and that is why we have asked for a piece of work to be done with the help of external eyes as well.

"We want to make sure that when there are genuine opportunities that can help us to build the Welsh economy we will always be actively involved and interested to bring them to fruition.”

He said the findings of the report would be shared.