Euro-MP Says Government Acted Too Late On Rover

6.06.38pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 8th Apr 2005

Following the news that MG Rover has gone in to Administration and that suppliers have already started to make people redundant, West Midlands Euro-MP Liz Lynne, today criticised the Government for not helping MG Rover find a new partner sooner.

She said:

"As someone who was involved in trying to save Rover when it was abandoned by BMW 5 years ago, I know what a savage blow this is for the workforce and for the 15,000 other workers who will be affected. If the plant does close I hope that the taskforce set up by Advantage West Midlands will be able to help them find new jobs soon.

"They are in this urgent situation largely because DTI Ministers started briefing about the £100 Million bridging loan last Friday and continued briefing about difficulties with the deal in China. The consequence of this has been that the confidence in the company was destroyed leading to suppliers withdrawing credit from the company.

"The Government have also acted far too late in trying to find a partner company for Rover. If the Government had really been serious about saving Rover it would have got involved 5 years ago rather than trying to play the knight in shining armour when it was already too late."

ENDS