Labour accused of turning its back on the West Midlands after rejecting 'gigafactory' plan

The sites, which will build the batteries needed for the new era of electric vehicles and create thousands of jobs, have instead been earmarked for Stoke, Swindon and South Wales.

Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey revealed plans for the three plants as well as £2.3 billion investment at last week's Labour conference.

But the announcement did not go down well with Conservative MP Julian Knight, who said it was "absurd" that Labour had rejected the West Midlands.

The Solihull MP said: "I strongly support bringing the gigafactory and the thousands of jobs that it can bring to the West Midlands – the home of the car industry.

“With the National Battery Industrialisation Centre being built right now in Coventry, with JLR such an important part of our region’s economy, and with a raft of expertise in the automotive industry here, this is the place it should be.

"We need to strengthen our automotive sector in the West Midlands and build a cluster of mutually-supportive successful industries.

“Frankly, I think it is absurd that Labour haven’t supported the West Midlands – they need to ditch this bonkers policy and back bringing the gigafactory and jobs to the West Midlands.

“Labour MPs in this region should step up on this issue and either get Labour’s policy changed or disown it.

"We need the West Midlands region to campaign for, and win, this crucial investment.

"Labour policy being against this is deeply unhelpful to our region, the automotive industry, and thousands of jobs.”

Labour says that under a Jeremy Corbyn government the three factories sites would be more than 50 per cent state-owned and employ more than 3,000 people.

West Midlands Mayor Andy Street is campaigning to bring a gigafactory to the region, setting out plans for one that mirror a 1.9 million sq ft factory currently being built in the Nevada desert.