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

Mar 19 2009 by Neil Elkes, Birmingham Mail

A Conservative Party source close to the City Council Cabinet said that in the absence of leadership from the Government, Councillor Whitby should take charge.

He said: “We haven’t got an initiative for LDV. It is very sad what is happening. If we are able to loan £30 million to the cricket club then why aren’t we doing anything for LDV?”

Meanwhile the opposition Labour group is also calling for direction from the top. Deputy leader Coun Ian Ward, who represents many workers in Shard End, said: “I can’t believe there is nothing the council can do, I can only assume they lack the political will.

“They could bring forward orders for the vans, as happened during a previous management buy-out in the 1990s.

“It is so important the LDV gets through this period. The council talks about a Municipal Bank to support business in Birmingham, and wants to put up £50 million this year and £200 million in following years.

“If they want to support business and industry then surely LDV should be at the front of the queue.”

Former Northfield MP Roger King, now chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, also argued that ‘jobs must come first at this time’ in council spending priorities.

Coun Whitby has presented himself as a champion of Birmingham’s motor industry, brokering deals to bring Chinese manufacturers to Longbridge and lobbying Lord Mandleson in support of Jaguar Land Rover.

But he has remained silent on LDV, instead pushing Cabinet regeneration chief Neville Summerfield to the fore with a letter demanding Government action.

The Government has also refused to intervene unless LDV’s Russian parent company GAZ also chips in.