The government could publish the letter it sent to Nissan reassuring the carmaker about Brexit once concerns about commercial sensitivity have passed, the business secretary has told MPs. Greg Clark said the government persuaded Nissan to commit to its Sunderland factory by reassuring the Japanese carmaker in a letter that it would try to secure tariff-free access to the single market for its UK operations.
The letter has not been made public because it contains confidential commercial information that could be used by the company’s rivals, Clark added, but it could be made public once these sensitivities are no longer relevant.
Nissan’s decision to keep investing in its Sunderland plant after the government’s intervention has sparked a political row that has rumbled on for weeks. Labour has criticised the government for not releasing its letter to Nissan, insisting it could have done a secret deal with the company. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) revealed last month that the government had refused to confirm whether any financial commitments were made to Nissan, although the head of the National Audit Office said earlier this week that he had read the letter and there was “no identifiable contingent liability”.
Clark, whose full title is business, energy and industrial strategy secretary, said he told Nissan in the letter that the government recognised the importance of staying in the single market. He also said that the company had welcomed his trip to Japan to hold talks with its executives.
When asked by MPs on the business, energy and industrial strategy committee whether he had promised tariff-free access to the single market to Nissan, Clark said: “That is not the conversation that I have had with any company, because obviously the negotiations haven’t started, let alone concluded. But what I said to Nissan, and I would say to any company, is that I understand and we understand the importance, as part of our negotiation, to look to secure the continued access, tariff-free, to the single market, and to avoid the kind of bureaucratic impediment that will disrupt trade. It is important that they should know what your intention is and what your view is on that.”
Clark also highlighted the benefit of his trip to Japan and the “importance of going the extra mile, or thousands of miles, literally, and showing that you really do take seriously the contribution [made by Nissan]”.
The business secretary also said the government would listen to the concerns of companies and industries when negotiating Britain’s exit from the European Union. He added: “If you are a minister or an official in the BEIS department, it seems to me that you should be talking to businesses, understanding what their concerns might be, and having that inform your negotiating mandate”.
Asked by Iain Wright, the chairman of the parliamentary committee, whether Clark would release the government letter to Nissan, he said he hoped to make it public eventually. “There are aspects that are commercially confidential, but they are not permanently so,” he said. “So my intention would be to release the letter as soon as the particular commercial confidentialities for the firm are no longer there.”
