In Parliament today, Black Country MP demanded
to know what action the Government would be taking over the 500
engineering job losses at Birmingham GKN driveline.
Slamming the decision as ‘disgraceful’, he cited former Business
Secretary who had previously stated that asset-stripping firm
Melrose, when taking over GKN, had made a commitment to stay
UK-based.
Speaking after the event, Spellar said: ‘I welcome the
seriousness with which the Secretary of State appears to be
taking this. Myself, along with other MPs and trade unions will
be taking this up again to get an acceptable solution.’
Extract from question time in the Commons
: Thank
you Mr Speaker. When asset strippers Melrose were allowed to take
over GKN, the then Secretary of State said that Melrose had to
honour its commitments to stay UK-based. Now they've torn that up
with their disgraceful behaviour and decision to close Birmingham
GKN driveline with the loss of 500 skilled engineering jobs. What
is the Secretary of State going to do about it?
Secretary Kwarteng: As he well knows, my door is always open. I'm
very happy to meet him to discuss this issue. I recall my Rt.
Hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells was in this seat. It
was a very delicate situation, but I'm happy to discuss with him
ideas on how we can ameliorate the situation.
