Birmingham city council lacks the political will to help LDV critics claim

Mar 19 2009 by Neil Elkes, Birmingham Mail

BIRMINGHAM city council lacks the political will to help ailing van-maker LDV and save 7,000 motor industry jobs, critics today claimed.

City leader Mike Whitby is coming under increasing pressure from senior politicians, including his own Conservative colleagues, to step in.

They claim that Coun Whitby (Con, Harborne) is ploughing hundreds of millions of pounds into high profile schemes including the Library of Birmingham and Warwickshire Cricket Club while leaving the van maker to go bust.

Today, it was revealed the van-maker has found two investors to fund some of the emergency loan it needs to survive, but still needs extra financial support.

Now pressure is piling on the city leadership to act before it is too late and thousands are forced out of work.

The company employs 850 directly and more than 6,000 others in the supply chain are reliant on it.

The LDV management buy-out team is currently negotiating to take over the company, but short-term financial pressures, including a £1 million tax bill, could force it out of business before the deal is concluded.