CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling has said he is in talks with the European Investment Bank about what it can to do to help the UK’s crisis-hit car industry.
And he said Liverpool should act as an example to the rest of the country as it battles against the economic downturn.
Mr Darling said both the British and French governments were urging the European bank to “do more” to help the car industry.
The news will come as a further boost to Jaguar Land Rover’s Halewood plant, and Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant, both of which employ 2,200 people.
The Daily Post is campaigning for the Government to provide a short-term loan or stand as guarantor to give banks the confidence to free up funds.
Interviewed at Downing Street, Mr Darling said: “It’s important to ensure we retain our ability to invent and develop not just cars now but cars in the future, especially when we move to low carbon cars.
“There’s a lot of investment there and I think that’s an area we can help in and we are looking at what we can do across the industry as a whole.
“I was at a meeting of European finance ministers on Tuesday and we agreed that the European Investment Bank, which provides a lot of money one way or another to the car industry, ought to do more and we are talking to them about that.”
He added: “The key to it in the long term is if you ask any car maker what do you want? They want people to buy their cars and that means if it’s in America, Britain, Europe, the Far East, China, we have all got to do the same thing and that’s put money into our economies to help businesses to help people.
“The one thing I am pretty clear about is we have spent 20 years building up the car industry one way or another, and I think it’s important we do everything we can, accepting every one of us is going to be affected by this downturn. But if we can play our part then we must do that.”
Mr Darling said the same was true of the Airbus plant in Broughton, near Chester, which has also been hit by a drop in demand for aircraft from China, one of its most important customers.
The Chancellor said: “The Chinese economy was growing astronomically but has now slowed right down. They have got the same problems now as the rest of the world and it’s not surprising they are looking around saying what can we hold back on.
“Rather like the car industry, we can’t afford to lose the basic skills that we have and the manufacturing of wings is very specialist work.
“We are very committed and we talk to Airbus all the time and we are very committed to doing whatever we can, but there are two levels.
“Yes, Governments can do so much and it’s important they do to make sure we have got this capacity.
“The key thing, though, is to make sure the demand for aeroplanes going again as we do for cars.
“That’s why it is so important, when all the major economies meet in London in the beginning of April, that we hammer out a deal that helps get things going again.
“Aeroplanes will be needed in the future, cars will be needed in the future, some of the other goods we manufacture will be needed in the future.
“Look at what’s happened, the changes in Liverpool over the last 10, 15 years. It’s the same with us. I think we can do an awful lot more and we will get through this.”
