Gordon Brown reiterates government stance on LDV Vans
The government has again reiterated that there will be no short-term loan facility made available to UK van manufacturer LDV Vans. The company is currently owned by a Russian parent company and there have been calls for the parent company to inject substantial funding into the operation to ensure its existence going forward. This would appear to have fallen on deaf ears and the UK unions are now becoming heavily involved in the situation.
As we covered yesterday, there have been a number of direct comparisons with the UK banking sector where taxpayer funds have been used at an alarming rate to bail out the sector. When you consider a "paltry" £30 million is all that is required to save LDV Vans and up to 6,000 jobs, why is the government not grabbing this opportunity?
Even though the UK unions and those close to the LDV Vans operation suggest that the company is a going concern, you cannot hide the fact that there are hundreds if not thousands of vans which remain unsold. The company closed down production for a short time towards the end of 2008 and the plant has yet to reopen. Can Gordon Brown really afford to walk away from a rescue package which could save 6,000 jobs in the UK?
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