JAG JOBS BLOW
Car giant is laying off 4,500
JAGUAR Land Rover is axing 4,500 jobs with the majority going in its 40,000-strong UK workforce.
The firm – which laid off 1,500 workers at its Solihull plant last year – has been hit by poor sales in China and a fall in sales of diesel cars.
But JLR, which is owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, also announced it will be investing in electrification.
Drive units will be produced in Wolverhampton and a battery-assembly centre will be opened in Birmingham.
JLR has previously warned that a poor Brexit deal could cost it £1.2billion-a-year and has opened a £1bn plant in Slovakia employing 1,500 people ahead of the UK leaving the European Union on March 29.
Unite union’s national officer Des Quinn said: “Britain’s car workers have been caught in the crosshairs of the Government’s botched handling of Brexit, mounting economic uncertainty and ministers’ demonisation of diesel which, along with the threat of a no-deal Brexit, is damaging consumer confidence.”
Rebecca Long-Bailey, Labour’s shadow business secretary, said: “Workers across Jaguar Land Rover have suffered months of uncertainty not least as a result of the Government’s Brexit chaos. The government needs to realise that the automotive sector from factory floor and right across supply chains desperately needs tangible support, not warm words.”
Rivals Toyota and Vauxhall have also warned of the negative impact of a hard Brexit.