While no figure has been formally announced, the government is believed to be spending around £100m to help the plant get up and running. The project is expected to cost around £3.8bn in total with around £1.7bn of that allocated to the plant’s building.

Last July, MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee warned that hopes for large battery factories in the UK may not come to fruition without increased public financial support.

The plant will generate approximately 3,000 high-value jobs with a further 5,000 indirect roles in the wider UK supply chain.

It will have the capacity to build enough cells each year for over 300,000 electric vehicle battery packs, equivalent to 25 per cent of current UK vehicle manufacture.

UK car production has been struggling since the Covid-19 pandemic hit due to a combination of factors including disruption from the virus itself, the global chip shortage, Brexit and strong competition from foreign manufacturers. But despite...