WE all know the North-East has its economic challenges – but it is also important to shout about its success stories.

Nissan has topped the list of North-East success stories for some time and today marks another historic chapter for the company’s record-breaking Sunderland plant.

The factory will today make motoring history when it starts producing the world’s first mass-market electric car, the Leaf hatchback.

In years to come, future generations will look back to today as the dawn of a new era in car manufacturing, and we should be enormously proud that it is happening here in the North-East.

The production of the Leaf in Sunderland should be seen as a major vote of confidence in our region.

We thank Nissan for choosing us for such an important task and we acknowledge the support the Government has given the project through its regional growth fund.

An investment of £420m by Nissan to make up to 50,000 Leafs a year in the North-East equates to 560 direct jobs and about 2,000 in the supply chain. We cherish every one of those jobs.

Above all else, today represents due reward for Nissan’s first-class North-East workforce which has earned the company’s trust to the extent that this region was the logical choice for such a prestigious contract.

Let the production lines roll.