Now the Department for Business has admitted no AAP loans have been made at all, partly because the banks are still refusing to make loans that can be guaranteed.
Asked about loans made, Ian Gregory, another official in the Department’s automotive sector, replied: “It is a round number – it is none. I cannot pretend to be anything other than disappointed.”
The Department has the power to make its own loans to car companies if the banks refuse to act, but Mr Gregory declined to explain why it had not done so.
The union Unite, also giving evidence to the committee, said JLR remained in “serious financial trouble” because of the Government’s failure to act.
Dave Osborne, Unite’s officer for the automotive industry, said: “The company is frustrated, and our members are angry, at the lack of progress.”
Ministers insist they consider the £9.5bn automotive industry “essential”, not least because it employs 74,000 people, plus a further 106,000 in the supply chain.
