Coventry MP pledges to defend jobs of constituents working for Jaguar Land Rover - The Coventry Observer

Coventry MP pledges to defend jobs of constituents working for Jaguar Land Rover

Coventry Editorial 15th Jan, 2019   0

A COVENTRY MP has written a letter to his constituents who work for Jaguar Land Rover pledging to defend their jobs amid the firm’s latest cutbacks.

Coventry South Labour MP Jim Cunningham says he will also call on the government to make assurances it will protect the country’s manufacturing sector.

JLR announced last week it will shed 4,500 jobs as part of a drastic £2.5billion savings plan over the next 18 months.

The Coventry based company heaped further misery on sector workers who face an uncertain future as JLR faces continued setbacks.




Mr Cunningham said he sent the letter to the many workers in his constituency who have been in contact with him, fearing for their jobs.

It is a major blow to the city as well as Solihull and the West Midlands, with tens of thousands of other jobs in the supply chain.


Mr Cunningham says in his letter he will continue to engage with government, the company and workers to protect local jobs and investment in Coventry and the West Midlands.

It reads: “Dear constituent,

“This week JLR have announced plans to make 4,500 redundancies from their global workforce.

“I wanted to update you on the actions I have taken to support the company and its workers.

“I am extremely disappointed by this news but I must relay the message I have received from the company that Brexit plays a very small part in their decision to make these redundancies.

“The transition from diesel the falling sales in China and a wider downturn in the automotive industry have all been significant factors in the decision of JLR.

“We only have to look at what is happening with Ford to see that this is an issue across the wider industry and not limited to JLR.

“This week I raised the redundancy announcement in the House of Commons to ask the government to urgently intervene and announce their plans to provide support to the company and workers.

“‘Just to reinforce what my right honourable Friend the member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Liam Byrne) just said about Jaguar Land Rover, it is very important that we get a statement from the secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy about what discussions he has had with JLR.

“It is very important for Coventry and the West Midlands.

“As I have said before, once a company has announced 5,000 job losses, there is a knock on effect for the rest of the supply chain, so we may well need to use a multiplier of two or three. It is important that the people of Coventry know what the situation is.

“Lots of constituents have written to me about this issue over the past few weeks, so it is important that we get that statement’.”

“I have already met with the secretary of state, along with other MPs from across the region.

“The government has committed to working with JLR and MPs from all parties in order to tackle the problems faced by the company and minimise job losses.

“I will continue to do all I can to engage with government and support efforts to protect the jobs of local people both directly employed by JLR and those thousands of workers who work locally as part of the supply chain.

“I will continue to engage with government, the company and workers to protect local jobs and investment in our city and region.”

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