Monday 16th February 2009

Ed Argar

BROWN'S FAILURE TO SUPPORT CAR INDUSTRY HITS COWLEY JOBS

Commenting on today’s announcement of job losses at BMW Mini in Cowley, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Oxford East, Ed Argar said:

“Today’s news that BMW Mini have cut 850 jobs, alongside changes to shift patterns at the Cowley Plant, is devastating for those workers who have lost their jobs and their families at what is already a tough time for many people struggling to make ends meet. It is vitally important they are offered real help in finding new work quickly.

Ed Argar, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Oxford East meeting with Shadow Business Secretary, Rt Hon Ken Clarke QC MP earlier this week to discuss the UK car industry and job losses at the BMW Mini Plant in east Oxford.

This is more proof that the UK’s car industry is in serious trouble as firms across the country are forced into tough choices in the global down-turn. With consumers and companies unable to obtain credit, and confidence at an all time low, in the face of declining sales, car firms are cutting production to remain viable and give some degree of job-stability for those remaining at the Plant. It is yet more evidence that the Labour Government’s economic policies to tackle the recession are failing, and this failure is costing jobs in Oxford.

BMW Mini’s Plant is vitally important to this city and the community in east Oxford. It gives over 4,000 hard-working people good, highly-skilled jobs. That BMW Mini did well last year, against the trend, is no thanks to Gordon Brown, but a tribute to this highly skilled and dedicated workforce, and the business.

Today’s sad news is yet another example of the challenges facing our car industry this year, following the recent sharp downturn in sales. It underlines the futility of the Labour Government's announcement on the motor industry last month. Their package will not help to sell a single car. The crucial thing now is to get the credit market flowing so that people who can afford new cars can obtain the finance to do so. We have set out a simple and bold proposal to free up the credit markets with a National Loan Guarantee Scheme and the Government should adopt it immediately.”