Campaign on hold for papal funeral
The political parties agreed to refrain from campaigning today, in order to mark the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
Tony Blair, Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy all attended the funeral in Rome.
However, ongoing financial difficulties at MG-Rover continued to exert an influence throughout the day.
Early in the day, Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt met with workers at Rover’s Longbridge plant in Birmingham to assure them that the Government would do “absolutely everything” to help them.
The company appeared to be on the bring of closure following the breakdown of talks with a Chinese investor earlier in the week.
Despite the offer of a bridging loan from the Government, Rover called in administrators later in the day.
Having returned from Rome, Tony Blair joined Chancellor Gordon Brown in heading to Birmingham, to meet union leaders.
The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats gave muted criticism of the Government’s handling of the crisis. Bromsgrove Conservative MP Julie Kirkbride accused Mrs Hewitt of “staggering incompetence”, and party chair Liam Fox blamed the Government for putting an unbearable burden of tax and regulation on British manufacturing.
Liberal Democrat trade and industry spokesman Malcolm Bruce put the firm’s plight down to the Government’s failings on corporate governance.
At the same time, the Green Party and the UK Independence Party put the situation down to globalisation and EU legislation, respectively.
