ELLESMERE Port’s Vauxhall plant will build the next generation Astra from 2016.

Confirmation of the site’s long-term future emerged from details of the agreement unveiled after talks between Unite The Union, the UK Government and preferred bidder Magna.

Ellesmere Port is currently building the latest Astra, which will keep production lines at the plant running until 2016.

But the agreement with Magna states: “Assuming it maintains its competitive position, Ellesmere Port will produce the next- generation Astra.”

Vauxhall and Unite The Union said that takes production at Ellesmere Port well beyond 2016.

But the union is also keen to win production of the electric vehicle Ampera for the plant, which would add even more production capacity.

The Ampera can be built on the same platform as the Astra.

During talks with Magna, rival plants in Germany at Bochum and Eisenach demanded the right to build the Ampera.

But unions and the UK Government are determined Ellesmere Port should be the home of the Ampera, given its status as the most efficient of General Motors’ European sites and the prospect of significant Government subsidies.