UK’s Nissan Backing Shows Starmer’s Push to Save Industrial Jobs

The prospect of new support from the UK government for Nissan Motor Co. is the latest sign of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s push to protect Britain’s industrial base as he tries to stave off a political threat from Nigel Farage’s Reform party and preserve the Japanese automaker’s famous Sunderland plant.

Nissan’s plan to issue a £1 billion ($1.3 billion) syndicated loan backed by UK Export Finance, a government agency, as part of a wider fund-raising effort marks a fresh case of the British state standing ready to aid the carmarker, which employs more than 6,000 workers at the Sunderland plant producing the Qashqai and Juke models. Nissan is the biggest employer in Sunderland, a Labour stronghold where Farage’s upstart populist party has made inroads.