Government cash for a long-awaited gigafactory at Coventry Airport is available, the West Midlands mayor has claimed.

Getting the project over the line is a now case of securing private sector investment, according to Andy Street.

This will be more likely due to a new 'investment zone' for the site, he added. But the Conservative politician's rival in the upcoming mayoral race claimed a lack of government commitment has led to slow progress on the project.

Labour's Richard Parker also told us he would make sure any new battery factory comes to the city. Further parts of our interviews with both mayoral candidates will be published shortly ahead of the elections on May 2.

Supporters say thousands of jobs and £2.5 billion worth of investment would be brought to the West Midlands by a new electric battery factory. Local politicians including Mr Street have long called for one to be based in Coventry, and a public-private venture for Coventry Airport with the site's owners and Coventry council was announced in 2021.

The site at Baginton has been backed by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) too. But three years on, the owners of Coventry car firm Jaguar Land Rover are building battery plant in Somerset and the last major update on the site in Coventry is "advanced talks" with investors in autumn.

We put it to Mr Street directly in our interview towards the end of last month (February 23.) Why does Coventry not have a gigafactory, what's gone wrong?

Here's what he said. 

Mayor determined that gigafactory should be imminent and says investment zone will help

Mr Street challenged the idea that something has "gone wrong," adding: "Lots of people sort of think that governments can just decree one.

"If it was that easy it would have happened." Jeremy Hunt has said many times he wants it to happen – but "you have to have a private sector manufacturer who actually then want to do it," he said.

"We've got advanced discussions with private sector investors, who want to do this. I can look you in the eye and say that's absolutely there."

He added: "All the sort of preparatory stuff to get it to be successful has been done. And we're now in that advanced negotiation to actually land it."

Mr Street also claimed that "everyone gets very obsessed with the gigafactory" but it is actually part of a wider cluster he says has been "incredibly successful."

Lotus, Polestar, the LEVC, are some of the examples he gives of inward investors that have not been held back by the lack of gigafactory. "But we do need the gigafactory and I am determined that it should be imminent," he said.

What's going to get it over the line? A manufacturer saying they want to invest hundreds of millions of pounds, according to Mr Street.

"The government cash is already there, they've made that very clear, when Jeremy Hunt came to Coventry he said this.

"He would have signed that cheque well before now if the investor had asked," he added.

"I took the investor to see Jeremy, eight months ago, and he wrote back and said 'we will support this.'"

Why did JLR's owners Tata not choose Coventry? He said we'd need to ask them that, and added that while he wanted them to choose the site here is is "not downbeat" about it, as "something very interesting has happened." 

"If you ask me why it's taken longer than we would all have liked, one of the answers is until [Tata] committed, nobody had committed in the UK," he said. 

"So there was this sort of notion about, is the government really serious about this, is the infrastructure, is whole the supply chain there?" And by committing the company gave "real credibility" to the UK as a battery manufacturer, and there's since been much more activity, he said.

Will the investment zone be a game changer? Mr Street said yes, citing the success of a previous version – an "enterprise zone" – with the same financial model in Birmingham.

He said they "battled for" the new investment zone at the gigafactory site. "It makes it very much more attractive," he said. "Straight answer – it makes it much more likely that we will secure that private sector investment."

Mr Street also claimed Labour had not been specific about where they'd want a gigafactory in the region, saying their public communications only referred to the West Midlands instead.

"My position is very clear, it's agigafactory for Coventry," he said. "The last time [Labour] named a site was 2019, and it was Stoke.

"You are right, we have not yet achieved it. But I am only taking investors to see the chancellor over Coventry."

We put similar questions to Richard Parker, the Labour candidate, in an interview also last month (Feb 29.)

Challenger pledges support for Coventry site and says investors need conviction from government

Mr Parker stressed that the party have a "firm commitment" to a gigafactory in the region. And Coventry is "the place that makes most sense to everyone, and all the conversations I've had, are about it being this part of the region," he added.

When we pointed out this is not a commitment to Coventry, he said: "I'll make that commitment, I will make sure it's here. I won't allow it to go anywhere else." 

"It will be the top of my agenda," he added. Mr Parker said he'd put a team in place in office if he wins to drive it through "at rapid speed."

"I will make sure when Rachel Reeves is the Shadow Chancellor that the first meeting we have with her in 11 Downing Street, I will be accompanied by politicians from Coventry and we'll be going down to set out a plan for its delivery."

But what has been the hold up with the gigafactory plans so far? The first thing is money, "because you need to invest in an energy system to support the site."

"It's then about creating the conditions that will allow a company to invest here." But the "biggest issue" from talking to companies is that investors need is assurance from government.

"They need the certainty and the conviction and the commitment from government, that government are going to put the infrastructure in that will make that viable," he said. "And this government have made a commitment to the South West, for Tata.

"Labour have made a firm commitment – the Tories haven't made a firm commitment to a gigafactory here," he added.

"They haven't earmarked the budgets for it, there's been no recent announcements." He claimed the lack of government conviction is the "biggest reason" they have made no progress on the project.

What about delays with the investors? "There might be a delay with investors, but I think the biggest delay has been the lack of commitment from government.

"And well it's pretty obvious, when that commitment is there we'll attract the investment."