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Jon Griffin, Birmingham Post, 6th July, 2009

MG Rover enquiry complete... Now the SFO are getting interested.

More than 6000 former MG Rover workers have been left “angry and betrayed” amid claims the Government deliberately stalled publication of a long-awaited inquiry report into the collapse of Longbridge. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson today ordered a new fraud investigation into the demise of the car firm dating back to April 2005  but MG Rover Trust Fund member Carl Chinn and ex-workers have launched blistering attacks on New Labour.

The fraud inquiry threatens to derail payments of four-figure sums to thousands of ex-car workers, more than four years after MG Rover crashed with debts of around £1.3 billion. Professor Chinn, one of four MG Rover fund trustees, said: “I am just so upset and so angry. It makes you wonder whether the workers are ever going to get this money.

Workers and their families need the money now. After so many years and having spent so much money on the inquiry, we still can’t help the people we want to help. A lot of workers have exchanged a good job with a long-term future for short-term, temporary low paid work. This simply beggars belief – I just wish that politicians would start to look at their impact on people’s lives.” Professor Carl Chinn, Trustee, MG Rover Trust Fund

“Workers and their families need the money now. After so many years and having spent so much money on the inquiry, we still can’t help the people we want to help. A lot of workers have exchanged a good job with a long-term future for short-term, temporary low paid work. This simply beggars belief – I just wish that politicians would start to look at their impact on people’s lives.”

Former Project Manager at Longbridge Annil Chandra, who worked at the car plant for more than 20 years, said: “This just smacks of gross incompetence by the Government once again.  I rely on contracts from the automotive sector and I have not had a contract since last November. My last contract was with Jaguar Land Rover and they disposed of 950 contract workers just before Christmas.

“The former workers at Longbridge feel angry and betrayed after all these years. Politicians just blow hot and cold to suit the needs of the moment. There are a lot of former Longbridge workers still struggling in low paid jobs.”

The former workers at Longbridge feel angry and betrayed after all these years. Politicians just blow hot and cold to suit the needs of the moment. There are a lot of former Longbridge workers still struggling in low paid jobs.” Annil Chandra, former Project Manager, MG Rover Group Limited

The new fraud inquiry was confirmed in a written statement to Parliament today by Lord Mandelson, who said: “There has been a comprehensive and thorough investigation into the events which led to the company failing, workers losing their jobs and creditors not getting paid. The SFO must now see if there are grounds for prosecution.”

A Government statement added: “The Inspectors delivered their report on June 11 2009. Following legal advice the Rover Report will not be published at this time in order to ensure any potential prosecution is not prejudiced. The position will be reviewed following the outcome of the SFO’s considerations.”

Northfield MP Richard Burden said: “My constituents – including many former MG Rover workers – and the people in the West Midlands still need to be told the facts about what led to the closure of the company. They have now waited over four years for those answers and they know that £16 million of public money has been spent on the inquiry. It will be a bitter blow for everyone to face the prospect of further delays before they have answers to their questions.”

[Source: Birmingham Post]

MG Rover Longbridge, Lord Mandelson, MG Rover Trust Fund, Professor Carl Chinn

Jon Griffin, Birmingham Post, 6th July, 2009

John Towers’ Phoenix Four have accused the Government of letting down more than 6,000 former Longbridge workers and deliberately stalling a long-awaited inquiry report until after a General Election. The controversial former MG Rover bosses fired a series of angry broadsides at New Labour as Lord Mandelson prepared to tell the House of Commons that a separate fraud inquiry was being launched into the collapse of the Birmingham car firm more than four years ago.

If the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation is confirmed today, the long-awaited publication of the findings of the Government inquiry set up in summer 2005 will be delayed still further and potential pay-outs of four-figure sums to up to 6,500 workers will also be shelved indefinitely, with £16 million gathering dust in a bank account set up by the MG Rover Trust Fund four years ago.

The Phoenix Four went on the attack following weekend reports that Lord Mandelson had ordered a separate SFO inquiry into the collapse of the Birmingham car factory in April 2005 amid debts of £1.4 billion. Reports said that the inquiry report, now in Lord Mandelson’s hands after four years of work, had concluded there were grounds for a criminal investigation.

However, the Phoenix Four responded with a statement which accused Labour of delaying tactics to “disguise their own failings.” The statement by John Towers, Peter Beale, Nick Stephenson and John Edwards said: “If this is true then it confirms people’s worst fears about likely Government/Business Department tactics.

This tactic is probably the only way the Department of Business can realistically avoid publishing a report that, if fair and balanced, will undoubtedly be critical of their and the Government’s overall role in MG Rover’s demise. Another inquiry is the last thing people want, and failure to publish the report lets down the 6,000 people who lost their jobs. We suspect this is nothing more than a Government ruse to disguise their own failings, shift the blame to others and kick the inquiry report into the long grass until after the election, spending yet more taxpayers’ money in the process.” Statement issued by Messrs. Beale, Edwards, Stephenson and Towers, former Directors of MG Rover Group Limited

“This tactic is probably the only way the Department of Business can realistically avoid publishing a report that, if fair and balanced, will undoubtedly be critical of their and the Government’s overall role in MG Rover’s demise. Another inquiry is the last thing people want, and failure to publish the report lets down the 6,000 people who lost their jobs. We suspect this is nothing more than a Government ruse to disguise their own failings, shift the blame to others and kick the inquiry report into the long grass until after the election, spending yet more taxpayers’ money in the process.”

The Phoenix Four said there had “never been any suggestion of improper conduct by the Directors. This was confirmed in a report by the Administrators six months after they took over the running of the company. Four years on, any suggestion of another further investigation is frankly ridiculous. If the Government had been so concerned to get to the heart of the matter why has it flatly refused more than 30 requests under the Freedom of Information Act which would have revealed correspondence and documents the Directors believe would have shed some light on the Government’s role in the affair?”

The SFO inquiry will scupper the hopes of more than 6,000 ex-workers of four-figure payments from the MG Rover Trust Fund at any stage in the near future. The former workers waiting for pay-outs have so far been denied payment on advice from lawyers representing the Phoenix Four.

Money already realised by the sale of Phoenix Venture Holdings (PVH) assets includes £4.5 million for former conference centre Studley Castle and £12 million of dealerships. However, PVH says no money from the trust fund can be paid while the company still has to deal with potential creditors yet to be identified in the Government inquiry report.

[Source: Birmingham Post]

MG Rover John Edwards, John Towers, Lord Mandelson, MG Rover Trust Fund, Nick Stephenson, Peter Beale, Phoenix Four

The MINI marque reached another milestone today as the 1.5 millionth car to be built since the launch of the new MINI in 2001 rolled off the production line at Plant Oxford.

Business Minister Ian Lucas MP, responsible for the Automotive Industry at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and BMW Group board member Ian Robertson joined a group of Plant Oxford apprentices as the Chili red MINI Clubman cleared the end of the production line en route to a British customer.

Ian Robertson, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for Sales and Marketing, said: “This is a great day for the plant and a wonderful milestone to reach in the 50th birthday year of MINI. The very first classic Mini rolled off the production line here at this plant on 8 May 1959.

Robertson added: “This is a tough time for the car industry and no business is immune from its challenges, but MINI is an extremely resilient brand with huge customer appeal and we have seen a strengthening order bank in recent months. We will launch a number of new models in the coming years and we are optimistic for the future.”

BMW Group has invested more than £380m in Plant Oxford since 2001 and a further £100 million in the Hams Hall and Swindon plants, which make up the MINI Production Triangle in the UK. The Group employs more than 7,000 people in the UK and its activities account for 1 percent of the country’s GDP. The company has invested more than £1 billion in the UK since 2000.

BMW Group has invested more than £380m in Plant Oxford since 2001 and a further £100 million in the Hams Hall and Swindon plants, which make up the MINI Production Triangle in the UK. The Group employs more than 7,000 people in the UK and its activities account for 1 percent of the country’s GDP. The company has invested more than £1 billion in the UK since 2000.

Business Minister Ian Lucas said: “The Mini has been a symbol of British design and engineering for 50 years, and I am delighted to hear that it continues to succeed today. Part of the longevity of the Mini has come from the company’s ability to innovate – the redesign that was launched in 2001, the focus on reducing CO₂ and the electric MINIs that over the next year we will be seeing on the streets as part of the Government’s Low Carbon Vehicles Demonstrator. The Government will do all it can to support the British Automotive Industry as it makes the necessary transition to the low carbon future.”

Some 5.3 million classic Minis were built in the 41 years between 1959 and 2000 so the total when combined with new MINI volume is 6.8 million cars.

MINI BMW Group, Department for Business Innovation and Skills, Ian Lucas, Ian Robertson, Plant Oxford