Jaguar Land Rover’s US exports announcement sparks anxiety in car-making hub Solihull
The decision by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to pause shipments of cars to the USA for the next month has made people in Solihull anxious.
The plant in the West Midlands town employs around 10,000 people. Many more work in the supply chain.
On the high street, one factory worker said they had been told not to speak to journalists about the company’s decision.
Another asked us not to name her but said: “Everyone’s talking about it.”
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Referring to a move by the company earlier this year, she added: “They’ve already laid off agency staff, the worry is the next jobs to go will be staff jobs.”
Richard Shuttelworth, an 81-year-old who worked for JLR for over 30 years, told us: “An awful lot of their trade is with America.
“There are going to be a lot of jobs lost if they don’t get it sorted.”
But he’s uncertain about how the UK government should respond.
“When it comes to retaliation I just don’t know,” he says. “At the moment I think they’re playing it right.
“They should kind of play it cool if you like and just see if they can get a trade deal, because I think the tit for tat is just going to do nobody any good at all.”
This is a town with car-making in its DNA. A warning from the Institute For Public Policy Research that the tariffs could put 25,000 jobs at risk across British car manufacturing is a real concern here.
“It would be devastating to people, it really would,” says Julie, 63.
“If you wipe that off the landscape, a chunk of people that not only work there but the families that have now got no income.”
Julie shared fears over possible job losses in Solihull
That’s what is worrying John Constable, who helps run his wife’s family’s carousel business in the town centre.
Ironically, a New York taxi is among the favourite vehicles on the children’s ride.
If parents aren’t earning, the business could grind to a halt.
“People are going to cut back aren’t they?” John says. “They’re going to watch their pennies which we all do […] yes it will have a knock-on effect.”
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He’s worried about a “tit for tat” trade war – but does think the government should keep all options open.
“I would monitor it to start with to see how things start to go and what effect it’s going to have on the economy,” he says.
“Then obviously if it’s going to be devastating then they need to put something in place.”
