Prime Minister David Cameron visited Newton Aycliffe last week to urge voters to remain in the EU. During his visit he toured the £82m Hitachi plant, which has so far created over 700 jobs, and it was jobs which the Prime Minister focused on when talking about why it important for the North East that the UK remain in the EU.
Speaking to the BBC, the Prime Minister said ‘This is an amazing facility with incredible skilled workers taking home a good wage providing for their families.
We want more of that, and if you listen to Hitachi management who invested millions in this plant they couldn’t be clearer. They want this to be their European HQ and they’ve said they might have to rethink if we were to leave, so when it comes to jobs, livelihoods, there is only one way to go and that’s to vote remain.’
David Cameron’s visit to the Hitachi plant came only a matter of days after Hitachi chairman Hiroaki Nakanishi warned that Brexit would lead Hitachi to rethink their investment plan in the UK.
The Hitachi Chairman spoke of the ‘cold economic reality of Brexit’ where ‘jobs would be lost’. He said ‘Brexit would force us and similar companies to rethink, because we still have a European vision, and would be disadvantaged in pursuing it from the UK.’
Local MP Phil Wilson, who was also at Hitachi that day said ‘This issue is beyond party politics. It is about the livelihoods of my constituents.’