A leading partner in the Government’s Longbridge task force has expressed doubts over its ability to find new jobs for Rover staff.
The task force will use £129m from the Government to tackle the aftermath of BMW’s decision to break up the Rover group.
But Louise Beard, policy director at Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, says the Midlands economy simply cannot absorb so many people at once.
The plant employs 8,500 staff, and a further 50,000 jobs in the supply chain are also at risk.
Beard said, “You could say that the West Midlands has run out of opportunities. We have done so much to absorb people over the past three to five years, there is little chance we can absorb tens of thousands of workers.”
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“What the economy is not ready to do is to take on 8,500 people plus the others.”
The Chamber of Commerce will play a leading role in the task force along with the Tecs, the employment service and the West Midlands government office.
