Jaguar a ‘centre of competitive strength’? Mandelson tries to hold back the tide

Sometimes, the stupidity of government is expected.  At other times, words fail - and the proposed bail-out of Jaguar falls into that category.  The bail-out of the car industry in the United States is retarded enough - but at least that money would have come out of the amount already earmarked for the absurd bail-outs to banks.  This, on the other hand, is in addition to them, and compounds the woes of the taxpayer.

Despite ruling out a succession of bail-outs of other doomed metal-bashing enterprises on the grounds of “responsibility to the taxpayer”, Mandelson justified pillaging the very same taxpayer with oblivion to the obvious of which our old Viking king Canute himself would have been proud:

The car sector - car manufacturing - is a centre of real excellence and competitive strength in our country.

Pah! Jaguar certainly isn’t.  If it were ‘excellent’, ‘competitive’, and ’strong’, it would not need bail-outs.  By definition.  A competitive industry can compete with the cheap and superior cars being imported from abroad, not bought out by Indian car giant Tata Motors, who own Jaguar and thus will be the recipients of this bail-out (funny that).

Mandelson is right that the car industry as a whole is somewhat more competitive - and not on its knees by a long chalk.  Who are the largest car producers in the country?  Nissan (350,000 at Sunderland), Toyota (280,000 at Derby), Honda (240,000 at Swindon), BMW Mini (238,000 at Oxford).  Land Rover, the profitable arm of Tata’s UK holdings - and one that will, consequently, survive without government subsidies - comes in fifth.  It’s simply the old marques like Jaguar that have lost their profitability.  And good riddance to them.

That shows that the parts manufacturers are not screwed by the bankruptcy of Jaguar any more than the bankruptcy of Woolworth’s will make Keeley Hazell unemployed; many people will be more than happy to buy her 2009 calendar elsewhere.  Car part suppliers can and will find alternative companies to which they can sell their parts.  I apologise for being a philistine, but a car factory is a car factory, and by bailing out Jaguar, the government is only guaranteeing what sort of car is made and who makes them, not that cars will be made at all: pronounced Lada or Rover, it’s all the same, and amounts to a gross exercise in state control of tastes and choice, as well as finances.

Allowing the old Jaguar plant at Solihull and Knowsley to convert to producing new, profitable, models - rather than subsidising the old failing cars, will save the workers, save the suppliers, and save the taxpayers.  The definition of a profitable model is decided by the market, and that’s something that not even Mandelson’s epithets and edicts can change.  The economic tides will always go in and out - King Mandelson trying to hold them back does nothing to change that fact: but will mean that he will condemn the taxpayer to drown.