Birmingham Mail sends open letter to Lord Mandelson over JLR
THIS morning, the Birmingham Mail again challenges Business Secretary Lord Mandelson as the clock continues to tick for Jaguar Land Rover.
Birmingham Post editor Marc Reeves, Birmingham Mail editor Steve Dyson and Coventry Telegraph editor Dave Brookes are sending this open letter, nearly three weeks after the automotive industry summit organised by the newspapers called for urgent Government action.
The summit on February 3 heard JLR chief executive David Smith and Unite leader Tony Woodley both call for Government assistance to quickly provide a loan to the company of £500 million to £1 billion and free up credit facilities for potential JLR customers. But since then, nothing concrete has happened.
The letter
Dear Lord Mandelson,
Three weeks ago, we were able to talk to you about the West Midlands Auto Industry Summit, and hand over a communiqué that represented the output of that meeting.
As you know, the summit was attended by key figures from a very wide-ranging cross-section of the region, from academics to politicians, and from union leaders to industrialists. Out of this group came a coherent message that demonstrated that the Midlands was ready to work alongside the government in rising to the challenge facing the automotive sector, but was also clear about what more was needed from the centre.
Since then of course, developments have continued apace, with more closures and job losses, but little more by way of clarity from government on the issues outlined in the communiqué.
Without wanting to exaggerate the situation, we have to say that from our positions as editors of the main newspapers in the region, we observe with extreme concern the increasing levels of uncertainty in the industry, and the increasing levels of hardship faced by its workers – and now ex-workers.
We therefore urge you to provide a detailed and substantive response to the communiqué that we can share with those who helped draw it up and our wider readerships – who in this region more than any other depend on the car industry in one way or another.
We will welcome your response, and will give it major prominence within our titles and our websites. We propose to run this in our newspapers on March 3, exactly one month to the day since the summit.
We look forward to your reply.
Yours Sincerely
Steve Dyson, Editor of Birmingham Mail,
Marc Reeves, Editor of Birmingham Post,
David Brookes, Editor of Coventry Telegraph
