Meeting with Ensus

As soon as I heard that the Trade Deal with the US (which has so many positives for UK industry, from steel to automotives) might have implications for the UK ethanol industry, I went straight to Secretary of State Jonathan Reynolds and sought a meeting together with Ensus, who produce bioethanol here in Redcar and Cleveland.

Ensus are a vital part of the industrial landscape on Wilton and employ hundreds of local people. It is vital the government step in immediately to secure jobs, support the industry and ensure its long-term viability. Ensus produce over 400 million litres of renewable ethanol and 350 thousand tonnes of high protein animal feed.

Up to 250 thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide from the production process is cleaned and liquefied each year by a partner company to be used in drinks and food production or for industrial and medical gases, used in our nuclear industry and our NHS. Plus our cars now run on petrol with 10% renewable ethanol to reduce their emissions.

Ensus are also vital to future investments in the renewable sector on Teesside in particular Sustainable Aviation Fuel and Hydrogen.

I was really pleased that today we met with the Secretary of State Jonathan Reynolds who understood how critical the sector is for national resilience and pledged that the government would find both short term and long term solutions together with the industry.

We discussed a number of interventions that could be made and the department officials are going to work on an urgent strategy with Ensus and the other affected company ABF from Hull. The Secretary of State left us in no doubt that the government is on our side.