Gordon Brown pledge to help Jaguar Land Rover

Jan 9 2009 by Jon Walker and Jon Griffin

GORDON Brown today pledged some government support for Jaguar Land Rover – as the bleak prospect of thousands more West Midland job losses loomed ever closer.

But the Prime Minister, on a visit to Birmingham, held back from announcing actual agreement on the details of any loan urgently needed by JLR to help it survive the credit crunch.

Downing Street’s backing for JLR came in a meeting in the city centre this morning with Birmingham Mail editor Steve Dyson as more than 5,000 readers backed the newspaper’s campaign in support of a financial package for the company.

He said: “We want to work with Jaguar Land Rover in solving any problems they have.”

The Mail has joined forced with sister papers in the West Midlands and Liverpool and called on the Government to provide urgently-needed bridging loans to the carmaker during the credit crunch.

The majority of Jaguar Land Rover staff are based in Birmingham and Solihull. It also has a major plant in Merseyside.

But the banking crisis means it is struggling to obtain the credit which the automotive industry depends on. The business is believed to have asked the Government for bridging loans of around a billion pounds – which would be paid back to the Treasury.

Mr Brown said: “I recognise the importance of the car industry, both to this great manufacturing region, and to the future of the whole of Britain. I recognise the great technology that exists here.”

He highlighted Jaguar Land Rover’s investment in research and development in the UK, saying: “I know that Jaguar Land Rover is a very important part of the research future of this region and this country.

“And I also recognise the skills of the workforce.

“What we have been talking to Jaguar Land Rover about, is what we can do to help them through this difficult period.

“We are going to continue talks, not just with Jaguar Land Rover but with the motor manufacturers as a whole.

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