Lord Bhattacharyya calls on Government to end agony for 16,000 Jaguar Land Rover workers

Dec 19 2008 by Jon Griffin, Birmingham Mail

a bail-out from the taxpayer. “They are asking for some loan guarantee scheme at commercial interest rates which they will pay back when times are good.

“They want a loan guarantee – they do not want help in the sense of aid. This is very urgent – if they are not making cars, they have to make people redundant.”

Lord Bhattacharyya’s forthright comments will place further pressure on the Government to quickly agree a funding package for JLR following recent high-level meetings between Tata bosses and Ministers.

The peer’s appeal came just 24 hours after Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said the Government could not write an “open cheque” for the car industry, despite its huge importance to the economy.

And Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg rejected any state intervention over JLR. “If the Government does decide to give this taxpayer-funded help to one company it sets a precedent and it will be very difficult to refuse that to other companies.”

But Shadow Business Secretary Alan Duncan said: “What companies such as Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan need is credit help, not unconditional bail-outs, to prevent those companies viable in the long-term going to the wall.”

And CBI Director-General Richard Lambert said today the Government had to act urgently to save “an industry that is vital to our future.

“The Government has to stand in and put the balance sheet behind an industry which is vital to our future. The whole industry needs access to credit and I think this is something the Government could do and should do with urgency. This is not money that is being given away, it is money that will be repaid.”

He described JLR as a “vital part of our manufacturing industry.”