IT is hard to overstate how important Nissan is to our regional economy.

The Japanese firm’s Sunderland factory is as close as we have nowadays to the industrial behemoths of the past – mines, steelworks, shipyards, engineering companies – which employed tens of thousands and whose demise crippled North-East communities for years. If company boss Carlos Ghosn had carried through his threat and scaled back investment at Nissan Sunderland then the impact could have been similarly catastrophic - risking jobs, confidence, and undermining the region’s reputation as a world-class centre for car manufacture. 

Since Margaret Thatcher opened the plant 30 years ago successive Prime Ministers have exploited the former RAF Usworth airfield as a place to show just how much they care about the North-East and to bask in the reflected glory of a factory that has become a byword for business success. David Cameron jumped at any opportunity to pose on the Sunderland production line, pinning badges onto the grilles of Jukes, Qashqais and electric Leaf hatchbacks.

Over its three decades of almost unremitting growth a pattern has emerged that means when Nissan calls on the UK government for support or public money they usually get what they want, such is its importance as a totem of regional and national industrial power. For a PM to let Nissan Sunderland slide would be akin to letting the UK quit the EU i.e. political suicide.  

The plant supports an estimated 25,000 jobs; is vital to scores of supplier companies across the region; and as Europe’s most efficient car-making site it showcases the North-East of England as a place where overseas manufacturers should invest. Mr Cameron never tired of trotting out the line that Nissan Sunderland makes more cars in a year than the entire Italian car industry combined - 'Wherefore art thou Alfa Romeo,' if you will. 

Nissan's decision therefore to build two new models on Wearside is the biggest confidence boost the regional economy has had since June’s EU referendum sparked uncertainty about how overseas investors would regard Britain as a place to do business.

It is also a huge personal coup for Mr Ghosn who recently visited No.10 seeking assurances from Theresa May that his company’s UK division would not suffer from Brexit. What was discussed that day and today’s decision about where to build the new Qashqai and 4x4 X-Trail models are not unconnected. Mr Ghosn may have been crying wolf when he warned Nissan might rethink its UK investment strategy if the government's Brexit deals exposed his company to export costs but Mrs May was not prepared to call his bluff.  

It will be very interesting to know what promises the government made that ensured Nissan kept faith with the UK. Does it also mean that other big manufacturers, such as Hitachi at Newton Aycliffe, will have to cut their own deals with Mrs May to ensure they remain competitive exporters?

If so this suggests there is no coherent industrial policy post-Brexit but instead the Government is willing to cut a series of piecemeal deals to appease powerful multinationals.

Mr Ghosn has driven a hard bargain, the road head for Sunderland looks a bit clearer, and Mrs May and her Brexit team may growl like a powerful X-Trail offroader but when it comes to negotiations with business they are more like a Micra with a knackered sat nav - puttering along slowly with no clear sense of direction.