Rover collapse cost UK nearly £1 billion
The collapse of MG Rover was an expensive affair for the British government and its people. A report published by the country's Public Accounts Committee says that the decline of MG Rover between 2000 and 2004 cost tax payers around £270 million. A £500 million pension deficit will also likely be met by the country's Pension Protection Fund, and the defunct company still owes £109 million to creditors, which they likely won't be getting.The real kick in the head is a small loan of £6.5 million that was given to MG Rover by the UK's Department for Trade and Industry in a move to stave off bankruptcy. The automaker shut down a week later and that loan will now have to be written off.
Not all is lost, however, as 4,000 out of 6,000 employees of the company have found new jobs, and the new Nanjing-backed MG will be operating a plant in Longbridge, England, as well.
[Source: WhatCar?]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Car Lease Expert 5:07AM (7/26/2006)
The UK car industry seems to be taking some big hits at the moment.
This has bigger repercussions on the UK economy as whole. In my opinion, global competitiveness is having a bad effect on the UK.
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south 6:56AM (7/26/2006)
i could be totally wrong on this, but i thought i read somewhere recently that there are more british people working in the auto industry now than there ever were during its 'heyday' -- it's just that the companies they work for are foreign-owned and not british per se.
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Car Lease Expert 9:35AM (7/26/2006)
I would like to see those facts and figures.
What about all the businesses that thrived on supplying the likes of MG Rover? Plus there are shops, bars and entertainment venues that served the local workforce which would have been affected by its closure.
Less employment results in less diposable income to be spent. The bigger picture has to be taken into account.
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