General Motors has confirmed today that Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant has been saved, securing the jobs of 2,100 staff. As we reported yesterday, production of the new Astra will happen at Ellesmere Port, with GM’s two German factories, Bochum and Russelsheim, being the casualties of the move; Bochum is likely to close.

The GM deal will not only see 2,100 jobs saved, plus many more in the supply chain, but will create around 700 new jobs. Around 160,000 cars per year will be produced there, after GM announced it will invest £125m in the factory, and a further £1bn in the UK supply chain – meaning 3,000 extra jobs, potentially.

Astra production there will begin in 2015, lasting at least five years.