Saturday 21st February 2009

Ed Argar, Parliamentary Candidate Oxford East

Letter to the Oxford Mail

This letter was published in the Oxford Mail on Saturday 21st February 2009.

Dear Sir, 

This week’s news that BMW Mini has cut 850 jobs, alongside making changes to shift patterns at the Cowley Plant, is devastating for those workers who have lost their jobs, and for their families. It comes at what is already a tough time for many people struggling to make ends meet. The manner in which the redundancies were reportedly carried out, with allegedly only an hours’ notice given to workers, leaving people no opportunity to prepare, will inevitably have made this blow harder. It is vitally important these workers are offered real help in finding new work quickly, something the County and City Councils are working on. 

The BMW Mini Plant is vitally important to east Oxford. It gives over 4,000 hard-working people good jobs. That Mini did well last year, against the industry trend, is a tribute to the business and this highly skilled and dedicated workforce. However, these job losses are more proof that the UK’s car industry is in serious trouble this year. In the face of declining sales, with consumer confidence at an all time low, car firms across the country are being forced into tough choices, cutting production to remain viable.  

It’s yet more evidence that the Labour’s economic policies to tackle the recession are failing, and this failure is costing jobs in Oxford. It underlines the futility of the 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. The Conservatives have set out a clear proposal to free up the credit markets with a National Loan Guarantee Scheme. The Government should adopt it immediately.

Yours sincerely,

 Ed Argar

Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Oxford East