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As the herd of socially distanced press clad in hi vis filed into Vauxhall’s weathered Ellesmere Port general assembly site on Tuesday morning, there was a tangible sense of both joy and relief from the staff watching on.

These people, praised for their resilience and hard work by each speaker at Tuesday’s event, have endured literally months of uncertainty and turmoil - not knowing if they would have a job to go by the autumn.

One assembler told me before the conference that attempts to extract information from the now-massive manufacturing superpower, which became the fifth largest carmaker earlier this year, had proven fruitless on countless occasions.

The discussions had been over whether to invest in or scrap the Astra-producing plant, due to the Government's plan to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles in less than ten years' time.

Negotiations had gone so high up and so far away from the region, to the most senior levels of national Government and Vauxhall owner Stellantis' Amsterdam HQ, it’s likely that even the local site’s manager didn’t fully know what was happening throughout.

Stellantis chief Carlos Tavares previously said the decision to invest or not would depend on the Covid-hit Government’s willingness to pay out and support the business, meaning it's also likely the decision came down to the wire.

But fast forward to Tuesday, and that long, anxious wait was over. Stellantis announced it will make Ellesmere Port the first manufacturing site dedicated to battery electric vans and passenger car models for Vauxhall, Opel, Peugeot and Citroën.

Safe to say, this £100m vote of confidence, together with an undisclosed Government grant, will protect the livelihoods of 800 families - and that's not all.

While the plant employs around 800, its supply chains support an estimated 7,000 more - meaning it’s fantastic news for workers and businesses from Birkenhead to Bootle, Warrington to Wilmslow, and even much further afield across the ������Ƶ.

We shouldn't forget: this is an industry - and a plant - that has been put through the wringer in recent times.

In January, it was revealed the number of new cars built in the ������Ƶ last year fell to its lowest total since 1984, with 10,000 jobs lost.

Vauxhall, like the Jaguar Land Rover on the other side of the Mersey, have both announced in the past three years - and Covid and Brexit that there would be more still.

And with Stellantis’ other options for the plant thought to have included closing it altogether prior to today’s announcement, we would have been forgiven for predicting the absolute worst.

The Government was more notable on Tuesday for the absence of Prime Minister Boris Johnson - who appeared via a pre-recorded video (would this have been the closest he’s come to Merseyside in years?) - than the presence of the Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng

Despite the best efforts of the assembled media, Mr Kwarteng did not disclose how much had been pledged to help - despite rumours of around the £30m mark.

But, credit where it’s due. However much it was, they have clearly given Stellantis enough support and encouragement to secure the future of this vital facility overlooking the M53.

While we've seen lots of support pledged by the Government to the other side of the Pennines in recent months (it’s worth checking where the Chancellor’s constituency is if you’re unsure why this might be), this is a promising sign in terms of levelling up the North West.

What’s more, with Nissan having seen a huge jobs boost last week with the £1bn announcement of a new electric model and huge battery plant ‘gigafactory’ in Sunderland, the ������Ƶ’s automotive industry can afford itself a rare moment of optimism for the future.

But while these announcements have been welcomed from most corners of the ������Ƶ, we as a country are lagging behind Europe and the rest of the world - and there’s no doubt that more is needed. In short, we need to ensure this isn’t a post-Covid flash in the pan.

As the ������Ƶ moves towards a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles that comes into force in 2030, we are becoming increasingly desperate for more capacity to build battery components for these new electric vehicles that will be flooding the roads in a decade’s time.

Stellantis itself is constructing two of these ‘gigafactories’ at present - in Germany and France, with the third rumoured to be in Italy.

Following today’s announcement - and Ellesmere Port becoming the face of its “new era” of sustainable manufacturing, who’s to say they shouldn't bring that project to the North West?