By JOHN-PAUL FORD ROJAS, DEPUTY BUSINESS EDITOR
Small firms that supply Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on Thursday night warned they are a week away from collapse.
Britain’s largest car-maker last month suffered a devastating hack that threatens to cost it billions.
The strike has forced JLR to suspend factory production and the stoppage is expected to last into next month.
Liam Byrne, head of the Business and Trade Committee, on Thursday heard from the firm’s suppliers – who claim to have mere ‘weeks left before the financial impact becomes untenable and causes critical damage to key elements of the automotive supply chain’.
Smaller firms, he said, in a letter written to the Chancellor, ‘may have at best a week of cashflow left to support themselves’ while larger companies were at risk of seriously struggling within a fortnight.
‘Most’ have laid off staff and let agency workers go, too, it was claimed.
Mr Byrne on Thursday night called for immediate action to help suppliers, asking Rachel Reeves for emergency measures to provide much-needed cash through schemes co-financed between the car-maker and the Government.
Suppliers also told MPs that any cash should come from JLR’s Indian owners, Tata, as it ‘was their cyber security that failed’.
Small firms that supply Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on Thursday night warned they are a week away from collapse. Pictured, hundreds of vehicles at Jaguar Land Rover's National Distribution Centre in Warwickshire
Britain’s largest car-maker last month suffered a devastating hack that threatens to cost it billions. (Pictured: Jaguar Land Rover factory and workers at its Halewood site in Merseyside this week)
It was claimed this week that JLR did not have insurance in place for such an event. ‘Lots of firms don’t know how they’ll make the payroll this month... The time to act is now,’ Mr Byrne wrote.
The Prime Minister on Thursday refused to say whether the Government could buy parts typically used by JLR from their suppliers in order to keep the smaller businesses trading.
Reports on Thursday suggested that officials were considering stepping in to help keep firms in the supply chain afloat, however.
In an interview with ITV, the Sir Keir Starmer said he was ‘really concerned’ for the car-maker and ‘equally concerned about the other businesses that feed into JLR’.
The JLR site in Solihull. Sir Keir Starmer said he was ‘really concerned’ for the car-maker
The firm on Thursday said parts of its IT systems were back online and could begin to clear a backlog of payments to suppliers.
A JLR spokesman said: ‘The foundational work of our recovery programme is firmly under way.
‘These are important initial steps as our dedicated teams work around the clock alongside cybersecurity specialists, the UK Government’s National Cyber Security Centre and law enforcement