Mr. Richard Burden (Birmingham, Northfield): Yesterday in Prime Minister’s questions, I said that the entire midlands area was holding its breath, waiting on the BMW board meeting that was to take place today. We now know the result. The responsibility for what looks like befalling Longbridge and other large parts of the Rover group is that of BMW. The day after the announcement in 1994 …
The news from Munich this week has left the Midlands in a state of shock. As the region comes to terms with BMW’s appalling decision to break up the Rover group, many thousands of people are in fear for their jobs. The workforce at Longbridge, quite rightly, feel betrayed by BMW. And the break up of Rover means uncertainty not only for Rover workers themselves but for the 50,000 or so …