Britain has "not ruled out" financial help to save factories run by carmaker Vauxhall, which alongside Opel is part of General Motors' European operation, a minister reportedly said Wednesday.
Business Secretary Peter Mandelson had telephone conversations with senior GM executives Tuesday and made clear "the UK's commitment to all of Vauxhall's plants," the Times newspaper reported.
Quoting Mandelson, it also said Britain had "not ruled out making a financial contribution" to help save Vauxhall, which employs 5,000 people at two main plants in Britain.
Germany is holding talks Wednesday as it continues to consider which of several interested parties would take over Opel, which employs 25,000 people in Germany. German officials said no final decision is expected.
The Financial Times reported that Britain was lobbying hard to prevent the German government, which faces federal elections this year, yielding to domestic pressure to protect jobs there at the expense of employees in Britain.
"We're pedalling hard to get a commercial solution and not an overtly political one," the FT quoted an unnamed senior government insider as saying.
Mandelson has also met representatives from Italy's Fiat and Canada's Magna, which are competing for a stake in GM Europe, both newspapers reported.
Britain's biggest trade union, Unite, warned that the government needed to take "decisive" action.
"Thousands of jobs are at stake at Luton and Ellesmere Port," Unite's joint general secretary Derek Simpson said, referring to Vauxhall plants.
"Once lost they won't return, our manufacturing capability and the UK's R and D (research and development) base will be left hamstrung.
"Mandelson claims the government is prepared but so far there has only been talk and no action."
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