HC Deb 22 June 1973 vol 858 cc233-5W
Mr. Adam Butler

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the assurances confirmed by Chrysler in respect of its United Kingdom operation as recently as December 1972; and which assurances have been allowed to be broken and why.

Mr. Chataway

Of the eight undertakings given in January 1967, the following five remain in force;

  1. (i) Chrysler will not initiate any action to impair either the home or overseas operations or the management and direction of Rootes as a British Company in its relations with the Government, labour, its British shareholders, and the public.
  2. (ii) Chrysler undertakes to maintain a majority of British Directors on the Board of Rootes.
  3. (iii) Chrysler confirms the plans of expansion covering development work at various factories and especially at Linwood in Scotland where the major development will take place and where it is planned to increase employment by several thousands; these plans are essential if Rootes is to remain competitive, achieve its proper share of exports and return to reasonable profitability.
  4. (iv) Chrysler plans to achieve a progressive increase in the export of Rootes products without restriction to all practicable markets and to continue to make available its full international organisation for this purpose. They note that, in the view of Her Majesty's Government, the test of the fulfilment of this undertaking would be that the export percentage of the products of the Rootes Group should be at least as high as the average for the British Motor Vehicles Industry as a whole.
  5. (v) Chrysler will nominate a Rootes Director (British) to each of the Boards of Simca SA and Chrysler International SA; and it is understood that a Simca Director (French) will be nominated to the Board of Rootes.

Undertakings (vii) and (viii) were discharged in January 1972, and Chrysler was released from undertaking (vi) in December 1972. None of the remainder has been broken.

Mr. Adam Butler

asked the Secretary of State Trade and Industry if the assurances given by Chrysler in respect of its operations in the United Kingdom extend to the plant at Ryton-on-Dunsmore; and whether this means that the Ryton plant cannot be closed down, diminished in size or moved to another site without the asurances being broken.

Mr. Chataway

Chrysler's assurances apply generally to its operations in the United Kingdom. While they do not have the specific implications mentioned in the Question. Chrysler re-affirmed in December 1972 its intention of continuing the operations of Chrysler UK in manufacturing vehicles for the British market and for export and of utilising as fully as possible its extensive plants in the United Kingdom.