For 120 years, the Vauxhall factory in Luton was an “environment of safety” for the local community. Following a corporate decision by parent company Stellantis, the plant shuttered its gates in March, leaving over 1,000 workers to ponder the “strange feeling” of a morning routine with nowhere to go.
Stellantis has opted to move its electric van production to Ellesmere Port, injecting £50 million into a new “commercial vehicle hub” while leaving the historic Luton site to be dismounted and turned into a “high-quality business park”.
The fallout is a masterclass in the “weakening labor market”. The UK unemployment rate has climbed to 5%, mirroring a grim milestone. British automotive production hit its lowest level in over 70 years this April, excluding the 2020 lockdowns. While the government and local task forces offer CV workshops and job fairs, the reality, told by the BBC, for veterans like Paul Geary, who parked in the same spot for 35 years, is a “drastic drop in pay”. As Theresa Halston of Flexistaff puts it, Vauxhall paid exceptionally well, and those high-tier salaries are likely never coming back to the area.
For some, the pivot has been survivalist. Alice Law, a former paint shop supervisor, traded her 35-year automotive career for airport security, while 22-year-old apprentice Robert Forster managed to salvage his sustainability training at the nearby London Luton Airport. It’s a “nice bit of luck” in an industry at a breaking point.
Stellantis previously warned that UK production was at risk due to government uncertainty over EV policies. Now, as the government promises £4 billion for electric vehicle manufacturing and energy price cuts, the workers in Luton are finding that “decorating the house” doesn’t quite pay the bills. The green revolution is here, but for the people of Luton, it looks like a lot of unwanted free time.
