Former MG Rover workers could share £22m payout

MPs have called for the £22m left on the books of collapsed car maker MG Rover to be distributed to the company’s former employees.

The money came from a car-leasing business linked to MG Rovers Capital and has been handed over to the shareholder HBOS.

With HBOS now owned by the state-funded Lloyds Banking Group, MPs have urged business secretary Peter Mandelson to take control of the money and divide it up among the 6,000 former MG Rover employees who lost their jobs when the car manufacturer collapsed in May 2005.

John Hemming, Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley, told the Daily Telegraph: “Lord Mandelson should review the details of this issue to identify if that money should be ring-fenced and divided between the sacked Rover workers.”

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Richard Burden, Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield, added: “Now that the government owns a stake in HBOS, maybe they could look to see whether MGR Capital’s profits ended up being shared in a fair and reasonable way when the company was wound up.”

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills declined to comment on whether Mandelson would intervene, while a Treasury spokesman said: “It is a commercial matter for the company [HBOS].”