Rover report a sorry tale of greed and incompetence - Thurso

"The Government needs to take action to ensure that this type of cynical asset stripping can never happen again," said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Business Secretary. Commenting on today’s publication of the investigators’ report into the demise of MG Rover, John Thurso said:

“After four years of delay and an eye-watering £16m of taxpayers’ money, the lid had finally been lifted on the murky circumstances surrounding MG Rover’s demise.

“This report tells an all too familiar story of greed and incompetence. Former Rover employees throughout the Midlands will be shaking their heads in disbelief at the colossal sums that the Phoenix Four made off with in pay and pensions. The Government needs to take action to ensure that this type of cynical asset stripping can never happen again.

“The one ray of light for those who lost their jobs is that the report’s publication should now unlock access to a fund originally set up for the benefit of ex-employees. Lord Mandelson should immediately establish if this money can now be distributed among workers who lost their jobs.

“The Government’s press briefings at a sensitive time in takeover negotiations were ‘irresponsible’ in the eyes of the inspectors. This is a damning verdict on the pervasiveness of New Labour’s spin machine in the workings of Government.

“It shouldn’t be forgotten that the Government jumped at a £10 bid from an inexperienced consortium, having failed to do proper due diligence. This turned out to be a terrible decision for all involved.”

Ministers do not emerge with any credit from MG Rover report

Shadow Business Secretary Ken Clarke says that questions need to be asked about the Government's role in the MG Rover deal.

Responding to the publication of the report into the collapse of MG Rover, he said that the inspectors "quite rightly" criticise the Phoenix Four and their Chief Executive, "who seem to have enriched themselves at a time when MG Rover workers were losing their jobs".

But, he said, "it is a pity" that the inspectors did not think that the scope of the inquiry enabled them to go more precisely into the Government’s role in the selection of the Phoenix bid.

It is also "regrettable", Clarke said, that they didn't investigate the possible misuse of taxpayers' money seeing as "Ministers put in £6.5m in the middle of an election campaign, to keep the company going beyond polling day".

"Unfortunately this report does not shed enough light on the Government’s undoubted involvement in brokering the deal in the first place and failing to realise that the project was heading for disaster", he added.

"I can understand why Peter Mandelson was so reluctant for this report to come out because it reminds us of this whole sorry episode from which Government ministers do not emerge with any credit."