You may have seen the news last week that the Phoenix Four, the former bosses of MG Rover, have been disqualified as company directors.
The independent inquiry into the collapse of MG Rover, which reported its findings in 2009, was damning for the Phoenix Four. The picture that emerged was of millions being made not from the engineering of cars but from the engineering of company finances.
Yesterday former MG Rover employees, MG Rover and Austin enthusiasts, community groups and the new MG car company all came together in Cofton Park to celebrate our pride in Longbridge. Pride of Longbridge was a wonderful day. A celebration of why the name was synonymous with the motor industry throughout the 20th Century. It was great to see Austin, MG and Rover enthusiasts swopping stories with …
Today I was in Longbridge to watch the first new MG6 roll off the production line. This is a real milestone for Longbridge and for the automotive industry in the West Midlands.
Longbridge has been through dark days. Nobody around here will forget how it felt, six years ago this week, when the MG Rover plant closed its doors for the last time and over 6,000 people lost their jobs.
Payments due to former MG Rover workers should not be delayed by contractual wrangles between Lloyds/HBOS and the Phoenix Four.
The Phoenix Directors still have it in their power to end the delay and to get money into the Trust Fund for their former employees. They have already had to wait five years – and that’s five years too long.
This week is the 5th year anniversary of the closure of MG Rover. I am calling on the Phoenix Directors to finally end the delay on the trust fund and do the right thing by their former employees.
Will you join me in calling for an end to the delay?
Earlier today I led a House of Commons debate on the results of the independent inquiry into the collapse of MG Rover.
Today’s debate was the first opportunity for the House of Commons to debate the report of the inquiry since it was published on 11 September 2009.
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.