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Blair Says No Rescue Plan for RoverBritish Prime Minister Tony Blair Sunday ruled out any chance of government intervention to help save jobs threatened by BMW's break-up of Rover.Writing in the Sunday Business newspaper, the prime minister said governments in the past had been drawn towards "rescuing" a company in difficulties. "We see our role now as helping to equip people and businesses for the new economy," he said. Help would include encouraging innovation and improving education, he added. Meanwhile, BMW chairman Joachim Milberg said he warned the government three months ago that Rover was in "serious trouble". In an interview with The Sunday Times, Milberg said that by late November 1999 he suspected the loss-making subsidiary was no longer viable and was "extremely doubtful" about Rover's future. Milberg said he rang Britain's Trade and Industry Secretary Stephen Byers in late December and told him that Rover was "in critical survival mode - in serious trouble". But the Department of Trade and Industry disputes the contents of the 22 December call. BMW says it was made clear that Longbridge as a whole was under threat. On Saturday union leaders accused BMW of "betraying" Rover workers at a rally of up to 80,000 protesters in Birmingham. The West Midlands is likely to be hardest hit by BMW's sale of Rover - up to 4,000 jobs are expected to go at Birmingham's Longbridge plant.
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