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Car Manufacturing

Thank you for calling me, Mr. Benton. I shall try to be as brief as I can. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Chorley (Mr. Hoyle) on a typically spirited defence of the motor industry and exposition of the key issues. He is right to draw attention to the major challenges that face the industry in the UK, and his point was well made about the importance of getting our employment laws in line so that workers in the motor industry can be effectively protected. He is right also to point out the key issue of procurement not only by the Government directly, but by all sorts of agencies. Coming from the midlands, I am, like my hon. Friends the Members for Coventry, South (Mr. Cunningham) and for Birmingham, Erdington (Mr. Simon), very concerned about the future of Jaguar and Land Rover, as no doubt the hon. Member for Solihull (Lorely Burt) is too. None of us pretends that there are no hard decisions to make—of course there are. We all want to ensure that the company is successful. So far, Ford has stressed that it envisages its roles including not only ensuring a good and profitable presence in the UK, but accepting its responsibilities as a corporate citizen in the midlands and in the north-west. I hope that that is true. We certainly wish to hold them to it.