§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how much public money was invested in the Rover Group from 1977 to privatisation; and what is his estimate of the replacement cost of the assets sold by British Aerospace to BMW.
§ Mr. SainsburyBetween 1975, when the Government took a majority shareholding in the company that became British Leyland, and of which Rover was part, until privatisation, some £3.5 billion was invested in BL in the form of grants, loans and equity.
The group last made profits, after tax, on ordinary activities in the 1975–76 financial year. By 1988, Rover's accumulated losses amounted to £1,600 million.
We are not in a position to estimate the replacement cost of the assets sold by British Aerospace to BMW.