'Phoenix Four' must answer MG Rover questions

Richard Burden MP writes for ePolitix.com ahead of today's Westminster Hall debate on the independent inspectors' report into the collapse of MG Rover. Skip related content

The long-awaited report of the independent inquiry set up to look into the collapse of MG Rover in 2005 was finally published on September 11.

It is a damning report that raises some very serious questions about the conduct of the Phoenix Directors who took over MG Rover in 2000, the payment of unreasonable financial awards and the structuring of the company.

The report also makes the charge that when I and others raised questions about the structure of the company including the way MGR Capital was kept outside of the MGR Group and the remuneration of the Directors, at least some of the responses we received were misleading.

If true, this is very serious. Not only will they have misled me as the local MP but they will also have misled my constituents and their own employees.

That is unacceptable.

The report also alleges that one of the Directors gave misleading answers to a select committee of the House of Commons.

The business, innovation and skills committee has asked the Phoenix Directors to give oral evidence to the committee in relation to their involvement in MG Rover and I welcome this.

Many of us had hoped that this report would help the local community to draw a line under the collapse of MG Rover.

But there are still issues which are outstanding and the Phoenix Four must answer the questions about their conduct that the report raises.

There are also things that can be done to help former MG Rover workers and the local community move on.

The first of those is the trust fund for former workers.

I hope publication of the report will speed up the money that the Directors promised back in 2005.

I have appealed to them directly to get on with it as quickly as possible.

Another is to look at how the profits of up to £22m from the wind-up of MGR Capital could be best used to leave a positive legacy at Longbridge rather than a sour taste.

We need to remember where MGR Capital came from as a company.

Why can't some of MGR Capital's final profits be reinvested in things like the regeneration of the Longbridge site and community development in South West Birmingham?

Or in a contribution to the trust fund set up for former MG Rover workers?

Or in boosting the modernisation of automotive SMEs in the West Midlands, many of which were also hit by MG Rover's collapse?

Drawing a line under the past should not mean forgetting the massive contribution which Longbridge made to motor manufacturing in Birmingham for a hundred years.

It was the home of the mini and so many other iconic cars.

That is not a heritage to be ashamed of.

Celebrating that heritage today means looking to the future.

With the new MG Motor company on site, car-making can still be part of Longbridge's future but it can also be a centre for innovation well beyond the automotive industry.

A major redevelopment of the Longbridge site is underway and it is important that everyone gets behind it to provide the jobs and opportunities that local people deserve now and in the future.

I will continue to push for all of these today's debate is one more opportunity to do so.

The former employees and the people of South West Birmingham deserve no less.

Richard Burden is MP for Birmingham Northfield.