Business secretary '˜intends' to publish Nissan Brexit letter

Business secretary Greg Clark. Picture: Ben STANSALLBEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images

The car manufacturer said in October that it would be making the new Qashqai and X-Trail models in its Sunderland plant despite speculation it might quit the UK following the vote to leave the European Union.

The move secured 7,000 jobs in the Sunderland area, where most voters had backed Brexit in June’s referendum.

But it prompted a volley of questions over whether a secret “sweetheart deal” between Nissan and the Government had been struck.

Ministers have strongly denied any financial incentives were offered and Chancellor Philip Hammond has said any costs arising from the assurances will be small enough to be covered within the Department for Business’s existing spending limits.

The National Audit Office has also found that there were no financial commitments in the letter that would need investigation.

Mr Clark said he had already set out its basic contents to the House of Commons.

Asked during a Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee hearing if he would share the letter in confidence, Mr Clark replied: “Let me take away that and consider it.”

He added: “There are aspects that are commercially confidential but they are not permanently so - so my intention would be to release the letter as soon as the particular commercial confidentialities for the firm are no longer there.”