A Labour MP who used to work at Jaguar’s Coventry plant today warned that vital manufacturing skills will be lost forever if the luxury carmaker’s owners close one of its three UK plants.
Speculation is mounting that Ford plans to shut the Jaguar plant at Browns Lane, Coventry.
An announcement on the fate of the 2,000 workers at the historic plant, which makes the XJ saloon XK sports models, is expected after a meeting tomorrow morning, with the BBC reporting that the decision to close has already been taken.
But in the House of Commons today, Mike Foster, the Labour MP for Worcester, urged the Government to tell Ford they risk losing a distinctive British brand should production switch elsewhere.
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Mr Foster, who worked at both Browns Lane and the Jaguar plant in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, before becoming an MP, said: “At Browns Lane there are special skills that work to make Jaguars a unique motor car.
“Those skills, held by British craftsmen and women, will be lost forever if Jaguar close down Browns Lane.
“You can’t have a very British car built on the mass production lines of Detroit.”
Mr Foster added: “I understand the problems caused by exchange rates that make exporting into the US difficult at the moment, but closing down the Coventry production line will not only mean huge job losses locally but will put at risk the whole brand image that Jaguar has.
“I want UK ministers to tell Ford that they may be making a huge error of judgment - not only for British workers, but for Ford as well.”
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Mr Foster, who was behind the controversial bill to ban hunting with hounds, was the third generation of his family to work in the car industry in the West Midlands.
Some 50 MPs, including those representing constituencies in Coventry, have already signed an early day motion opposing plans to shut Browns Lane.
Coventry North East MP Bob Ainsworth has said closure would be devastating for the city, which has already suffered from job losses at telecoms firm Marconi and agricultural equipment maker Massey Ferguson.
Ford, which cut a deal with unions this month to save Land Rover, faces falling Jaguar sales and overcapacity at the plants where the iconic British luxury cars are made.
It has said it wants to reduce Jaguar output by about 15,000 this year, but the largest union at Jaguar said in late August it had been assured no jobs would go.