A blatant waste of our money
QUESTION: If this wasn't an election campaign, would the Government be giving a £6.5m loan to MG Rover to cover wages? What do you think? This must rank as one of the most blatant pieces of political gimmickry ever. If Labour wants to shore up the West Midlands vote between now and 5 May, it will have to lend a total of £26 million.
How it proposes to get it back, heaven knows. It's taxpayers' money that would be better spent on re-training courses for the 6000 workers - most of whom seem increasingly certain to lose their jobs.
The fact is, MG Rover is heading to the scrapyard. Some bits, notably MG, should be salvageable. But the rest,and the bulk of the workforce, have no future. Talk about there still being a deal with the Chinese appears increasingly misplaced.
As we report today, Shanghai Automotive Co has its own problems. Plus, the reality of the proposed Chinese purchase, as became clear over the weekend, was they were never going to maintain large-scale manufacturing in Birmingham. All they are after is the marque and knowhow.
Fortunately, now the company is in administration, MG Rover's future is for level-headed pragmatists to determine, not politicians anxious to capture primetime news coverage.
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