Trade Secretary Stephen Byers was cleared today of knowing in advance that
German car giant BMW was to sell its loss-making Rover subsidiary, when a
cross-party committee of MPs found he was as much in the dark as anyone.
The Trade and Industry Select Committee said it was "hard to see" how Mr
Byers could have anticipated the shock decision of March 16 to break up the
Rover Group.
But the Labour-dominated committee said there was "some failure" in the
government's intelligence-gathering mechanism which should have done more to
pick up early warning signs.
Mr Byers said he was pleased that all members of the committee had cleared
him, adding: "I now hope we can concentrate on the future."
The committee directed most of its anger at BMW, accusing the firm of being
"incompetent and excessively secretive" in its disposal of Rover, which is
likely to cost thousands of jobs.
Downing Street said the report provided strong backing for Mr Byers.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "We have been clear throughout
that the Prime Minister thinks Stephen Byers handled it (the Rover situation)
extremely well.
"The pressure has been on Stephen Byers, we have insisted throughout that the
version he has been giving has been right, and consistent, and we do feel
that this report vindicates him."
Former Conservative Trade Secretary John Redwood said the report showed Mr
Byers had either been incompetent or had misled everyone.
Sir Ken Jackson, general secretary of the Amalgamated Engineering and
Electrical Union, said: "The report proves that Stephen Byers, like us, was
kept in the dark. It is not the government's job to read tea-leaves. Now we
can get on with the real job of helping Rover workers."
John Edmonds, general secretary of the GMB, said: "The Department of Trade
and Industry really dropped the ball on this one. It is high time the DTI was
restructured and given a new remit. Its job from now on must be to ensure the
defence and promotion of British industry at home and abroad. We must never
see a situation akin to Longbridge again."
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