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MG Rover

: I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Northfield (Richard Burden) on securing this important debate. His work and consistent advocacy on behalf of his constituents and others who have been affected should be commended. First and most importantly, I want to express my profound sympathy for all those who have been affected. The appointment of administrators to MG Rover on 8 April was a huge blow to the company's employees, their families, the local community and companies that did business with MG Rover. The impact of its failure has been felt up and down the supply chain among suppliers and retailers. It has been felt most deeply in the west midlands, including in my hon. Friend's constituency and the constituencies of other hon. Members present, but it has also spread to other parts of the country. The shock was all the greater because for most of the employees, the collapse of MG Rover was somewhat unexpected at that point. Although the company's fundamental difficulties were well known, and the DTI had been tracking its fortunes since autumn 2004, the hopes of a deal with the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation had been strong until that week. There was no reason to doubt the seriousness of the corporation's intent. Indeed, the Government had made it clear to the corporation and the Chinese Government that we supported a joint venture in principle and were ready to provide a short-term bridging loan. However, we were prepared to offer that loan only on certain conditions. Those included that we were sure the deal would be done, that the money could not be siphoned off and that the loan would be repaid. The DTI, the shareholder executive and others worked round the clock to see whether a deal could be done to save the company and the jobs that went with it. The company had been publicly pressing for a loan, and taxpayers' money was involved. The loan would also have had to be declared to the European Commission. There was no prospect of its remaining a secret, nor would that have been right. To respond to some of the questions asked by the hon. Member for Birmingham, Yardley (John Hemming), as the then Secretary of State said, in the end SAIC made it clear that—