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So Luton is to stop all vehicle production after the owner of Vauxhall announced the closure of its van factory. Why?

It is easy to throw around the blame. The owner of Vauxhall is now Stellantis, which was formed by Chrysler, Fiat and Peugeot-Citroen getting together in 2019. So the company could be accused of wanting to shut plants in Britain rather than in France, Italy or the US.

Or you could blame this Government’s drive to stop companies selling petrol and diesel cars and vans in the UK in five years’ time. That was “a significant part” of the reason behind the decision, the company said.

It has certainly had a reaction. The Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, told the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ dinner on Tuesday that the Government was launching a consultation about reforming the rules about the pace at which manufacturers will be forced to switch to electric vehicles.

Or you could simply say this is part of the much wider retreat from manufacturing that the UK has experienced over the past half-century – though it is worth noting that the same pattern is being repeated across the rest of the developed world.

But rather than trying apportion to blame, it is surely more helpful – and actually more hopeful – to set what is happening into its longer-term context.

So let’s step back a bit, starting with a sad note, for this ends 120 years of tradition. It was in March 1905 that the Vauxhall company moved to Luton, making beautifully-engineered luxury cars that vied with Rolls-Royce, Mercedes and Hispano-Suiza at the top end of the pre-First World War market. The success didn’t last. The cars were too expensive, profits turned to losses and in 1925 Vauxhall was taken over by General Motors, anxious to match Ford’s incursion into the UK........

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