Workers at Solihull Jaguar plant moved to 3-day week until Christmas

Jaguar Land Rover, the largest carmaker in the UK, has moved workers at its Solihull plant on to a three-day week schedule until Christmas.

The car manufacturer said on Monday it was making temporary adjustments to its production schedules at its primary plant for Jaguar vehicles at Castle Bromwich, "in light of the continuing headwinds impacting the car industry".

More than 3,000 workers at the plant will retain pay and benefit levels during the schedule cut, which begins in October.

The move comes amid a tense period for UK-based exporting corporations awaiting the outcome of Brexit negotiations.

Jaguar Land Rover is also having to pay close attention to a car market that has seen a significant fall in demand for diesel vehicles.

Birmingham Erdington Labour MP Jack Dromey blamed the cut in production on a combination of "Brexit chaos" and the mishandling of the transition from diesel cars in the UK by ministers.

"Brexit now threatens the jewel in the crown of British manufacturing excellence," he tweeted on Monday.

The company said in a statement: "As is standard business practice, Jaguar Land Rover regularly reviews its production schedules to ensure market demand is balanced globally.

"We are however continuing to over-proportionally invest in new products and technologies, and are committed to our UK plants in which we have invested more than £4bn since 2010 to future proof manufacturing technologies to deliver new models."

Details of the schedule cut were released, one week after Jaguar Land Rover's chief executive Ralph Speth warned that a "no-deal" Brexit could cost the car maker up to £60m a day, as such a position would wreak havoc to its "just-in-time" supply chains.

Mr Speth said that with JLR producing 3,000 cars daily and relying heavily on just-in-time delivery of parts shortly before use, he would be "very, very concerned" if there were blockages in the supply chain.

He told Sky News: "Just one part missing could mean stopping production at a cost of £60m a day. That is a huge risk.

"We depend on free, frictionless, seamless logistics."