MPs write to business secretary over JLR supply chain jobs

Richard PriceWest Midlands

UK Parliament A portrait image of a woman with blonde hair and light blue eyes, taken across a dark grey backdrop. — Antonia Bance is the Labour MP for Tipton and Wednesbury and a member of The Business and Trade Committee

About 30,000 people are employed directly by JLR, with a further 200,000 working in the firm’s supply chain.

Antonia Bance – Labour MP for Tipton and Wednesbury and also a member of the Business and Trade Committee – is among the MPs to have written to the business secretary.

She said they were trying to make sure that there was attention on the matter and that the risk to jobs in the supply chain was properly understood.

JLR bosses were limited in what they were able to say, she said, although MPs had received briefings from the firm, but they had not included how long the situation would last.

The MPs have not been given any indication from JLR as to how long the knock-on effects of the cyber attack will last

Getty Images A black Range Rover is at the front of a factory production line that has a metal walkway running alongside the vehicles that are in a queue on the right of the picture. — The MPs have not been given any indication from JLR as to how long the knock-on effects of the cyber attack will last

She said she was hearing from supply-chain firms that said they were experiencing cash-flow problems.

This meant some firms were left unsure whether or not they could continue employing staff.

“A number of the plants in my area have sent all of their staff home and stopped production” Bance said.

“Most of them are continuing to pay their staff, but obviously that’s a real financial strain on these sometimes quite small businesses, particularly when there is no end in sight.”

Firms had gone to their own lenders and had been able to extend their overdraft facilities, she added.

JLR had been considering what it could do to support the supply chain, but Bance believed the government could help with a furlough scheme or by guaranteeing loans.

‘Proud industry’

This would help save jobs and skills in the region, she added.

“We are not talking about businesses who are otherwise in trouble, we’re talking about businesses who are thriving, who are looking to take on more staff, and if this cyber attack hadn’t happened would be running up towards Christmas at full tilt,” Bance said.

It would be “completely understandable” if people starting looking for other jobs if they did not feel firms could continue employing them, she added.

Tata, which owns JLR, should be doing “absolutely everything they can, including financial help,” to ensure the supply chain survived, she said.

“I do think there’s a responsibility on the owners, but I do also think that if we want to be a country that makes things again, if we are proud of our industry – and here in the West Midlands we could not be more proud of what we make and what we sell around the world – government may have to step in.”

Minister for industry Chris McDonald said he had met with West Midlands mayor Richard Parker as well as JLR bosses to discuss their plans and would meet with supply chain businesses in the coming days.

“We know this is a worrying time for those affected, and although Jaguar Land Rover are taking the lead on support for their own supply chain, our cyber experts continue to support them to resolve the issue as quickly as possible,” he said.

The signatories to the letter included:

West Midlands