Cable battles to save Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port plant

There are fears that GM – which has seen its fortunes revived stateside with the help of US government backing – will downsize its European operations by axeing production facilities in Germany, Spain or the UK. GM has already announced a five year cost-cutting programme that aims to save more than £1 billion. Cable is believed to have pleaded Britain's case to save Vauxhall's UK factory in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire – home of the Astra – and its 2000 jobs from being among the casualties. The business secretary will have certainly reminded the GM chiefs of the faith that rivals such as BMW, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan have shown in their British plants and workforce; a point underlined by Unite the Union's Roger Maddison. He said: "Ellesmere Port is the most efficient plant in GM's European family, and the UK is their biggest market. There is not one iota of business logic in closure and that is the case we will be making stridently to GM and their shareholders."