Car industry 'to go unless we join euro'

BRITAIN'S car industry is facing collapse unless the Government joins the European single currency, industry chiefs and union leaders will warn today

They fear wholesale plant closures and the loss of thousands of jobs as well massive export earnings.

Christopher Macgowan, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, will spell out the dangers on BBC TV's flagship political show On The Record.

"The motor industry in the United Kingdom is in crisis," he will say. "If we don't go into the euro it will continue to be an enormous political issue.

"We're already watching jobs migrate out of the United Kingdom because people are having to relocate factories outside the UK.

"I'm very fearful, that if we don't address the euro issue, jobs will go and plants will close."

Sir Ken Jackson, leader of the AEEU engineering workers' union, endorsed the Doomsday scenario.

He said: "If we stay out of the euro the future of motor manufacturing in this country will be virtually nil."

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