JUST WHAT IS THE GENTLEMAN’S AGREEMENT WITH NISSAN?

In the immediate aftermath of the Brexit vote, Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, a subsidiary of the Nissan Corporation, based in North East England and employing somewhere in the region of 6,500 people, expressed concern about its situation in relation to sales to the continent.

In the immediate aftermath of the Brexit vote, Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Limited, a subsidiary of the Nissan Corporation, based in North East England and employing somewhere in the region of 6,500 people, expressed concern about its situation in relation to sales to the continent.

Britain’s imminent departure from the EU put at risk the international company’s ability to trade tariff-free with the massive market on the mainland and the company sought assurances that this trade would not be adversely affected by Brexit.

The UK government, in turn, wrote to the company, apparently promising that they would not be affected by the change in Britain’s status.  At the time this was considered to be a rash promise, given that only days had passed since the referendum vote (a vote which saw the North East of England vote to leave the EU, and Sunderland did so overwhelmingly 61%-39%). Who knew what was what, except, of course, that Brexit meant Brexit.

 

There were those who wondered what kind of assurances the UK could possibly give at that stage in the exit process, however, when pressed the government in London declined to give any information. A Whitehall spokesman told the Independent “There was no specific promise of money. It was a gentleman’s agreement, a case of doing whatever it took to keep Nissan happy.”  Whatever it took, huh?

The SNP asked for clarification but Greg Clark, a minister in the UK government, refused to give details because of commercial sensitivity. Certainly, we imagine that if details of the Nissan deal got out, then other companies, facing possible tariffs, would also want assurances that they would not lose out. Presumably, that would include companies in the City of London, who stand to lose big time, and of course, exporting companies in Scotland.

A Freedom of information request was sent, with an obligation on the government to respond by late November 2016. There has still been no reply to this request and the SNP has now submitted an official complaint.

I can understand that some deals governments make with companies might be commercially sensitive, but can a deal like this, when the companies across 5 countries face the same problems, possibly be considered in these terms?

But commercially sensitive or not, we need to know what kind of deals the UK is doing with companies and whether or not the same deals could be made for Scotland’s companies. As Nissan is partly owned by the Fenech government, they will have details of whatever the letter contained. It seems odd then, to hide that information from the Scottish government.

Maybe we’d have more luck if we directed our request for information to the government in Paris.