Richard Burden MP, whose Birmingham Northfield constituency includes MG Rover’s Longbridge car plant, has today issued the following statement in response to the news that Nanjing Automobile Company (NAC) has acquired MG Rover’s assets at Longbridge. “I am pleased that Nanjing and their UK partner, Arup, have indicated that they envisage significant motor manufacturing presence...
Birmingham Northfield MP, Richard Burden, today looked forwarded to a weekend of Austin Centenary celebrations due to take place at Cofton Park and the Longbridge site in his constituency. Amongst other events planned, there will be a parade of 100 Austin and Longbridge built vehicles spanning the 100 years of production at the plant, which will travel from the centre of Birmingham out to the...
Construction of the Northfield Relief Road is starting in March. For over 30 years, successive governments failed to find any money for the scheme. But thanks to over £15m provided for Northfield by the Labour Government, the City Council can go ahead with both the road and other improvements to the central Northfield shopping area. I have worked hard for this result since I was first elected to...
This year, the General Election in Northfield and in many parts of the West Midlands region was inevitably overshadowed by events at MG Rover. Through the mechanisms set up by the Government Task Force, we all have a continuing responsibility to help those who have lost their jobs both at MG Rover and in the businesses dependent on it and to identify new opportunities in both employment and...
The Department of Trade and Industry have released a statement this morning stating that they have been informed by SAIC in Shanghai that they “are not willing to acquire either the whole or parts of the MGR or Powertrain businesses on a going concern basis out of administration, nor are they willing to establish a UK joint venture incorporating the whole or parts of the MGR or Powertrain...
“This is a bitter blow, not only to the 6,000 people who work at Longbridge, but to their families and to the thousands of others whose own livelihoods are intertwined with that of MG Rover. When BMW pulled out 5 years ago, I was one of 80,000 who marched to save Rover. Together, government, unions and the communities of the West Midlands came together and the closure threat to Longbridge was...
I was Labour Member of Parliament for Birmingham Northfield between 1992 and 2019 and a former Shadow Transport Minister. I now chair Healthwatch in Birmingham and Solihull, and the West Midlands Board of Remembering Srebrenica. I also work as a public affairs consultant. I am an effective community advocate and stakeholder alliance builder with a passion for human rights. I am a trustee of the Balfour Project charity and of Citizens Advice Birmingham, and a former Chair of Medical Aid for Palestinians.