In an earlier post I said, "... what we need is for Amanda at the Toon to phone Big Mo in Saudi to come to the rescue, ..." - I know it was tongue-in-cheek but what about this as a solution (based on a recent article in The Engineer Magazine):
https://www.theengineer.co.uk/content/news/kaust-spinout-will-extract-lithium-from-seawater
Big Mo buys Britishvolt then uses the seawater sucked-up the old powerstation outfall pipe to get the lithium to make the batteries. You heard it here first - another bright idea from Sym.
I expect, or should that be hope, the government will make sure it happens.
The UK currently only has one Chinese-owned battery plant next to the Nissan factory in Sunderland, while 35 plants are planned or already under construction in the European Union