Latest news with #Solihull
Telegraph
18-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Starmer's trade deal spin has just been brutally exposed
Sir Keir Starmer's decision to stand up in front of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) workers in its Solihull factory and promise to protect their jobs from Donald Trump's trade war looked like a strange one from the outset. For a start, if the Prime Minister had been paying the slightest bit of attention, it was plain for all to see that JLR was a company in deep trouble. Tariffs were just the latest problem it faced, along with parts shortages and the huge costs of going electric. And that was before a disastrous woke rebrand cratered sales. The idea that Starmer could swing the pendulum sufficiently to ensure continued employment for JLR factory workers against such a grim backdrop is only mildly less ridiculous than the suggestion that the Prime Minister is in any position at all to guarantee that anyone's job is safe, whether it's mine, yours, or somebody else's. And so it is, with an overwhelming sense of inevitability, that JLR has announced plans for hundreds of job cuts just two months after Starmer's preposterous speech in the West Midlands. Make no mistake about it: this is a spectacular embarrassment for the Government on multiple levels. Never mind that he was allowed to go up there in the first place and make such utterly hollow claims. Starmer deserves all the humiliation that must follow such a breathtaking display of arrogance. But this is about far more than Starmer's humbling, it's what it says about the future of manufacturing in this country under the dead hand of Labour that really counts. It is a reminder too that for all the Government's attempts to paint its trade deal with America as some sort of triumph, that what Starmer came away with was really nothing of the sort. Quite the opposite in my view. True, we're better off than our estranged European cousins, but it's still much harder and more costly to export to the US than it was previously. So Britain isn't better off than it was before tariffs came in, it's just less worse off than others. In the case of the car sector that means a 10pc levy, which is disastrous for JLR given that the US is its biggest export market by far. No doubt the Government of course would love for everyone to blame all of this on Trump. But the truth of the matter is that no amount of leniency from Washington can counteract the economy's underlying weaknesses under Labour or its repeated missteps. JLR can hardly escape criticism of course. Its bizarre relaunch risks being one of biggest acts of corporate self-harm ever committed, while the decision to stop selling new cars in the UK late last year as part of its shift towards new electric models is also a huge gamble. But in all likelihood, it probably wouldn't be making 500 staff redundant if it wasn't so hard to be a manufacturer in this country, or indeed run a business for that matter. The same goes for all the other major manufacturers that have pared back operations in recent months or in some cases simply shut up shop altogether. The hollowing out of heavy industry is taking place at frightening speed and so much of it, is clearly the direct result of this Government's woeful economic mismanagement. Ditto the state of emergency that has gripped the high street. Not content with an autumn tax raid which has left retailers grappling with big National Insurance increases, alongside steep increases in the minimum wage and a new plastic tax, the industry is facing another hit from planned changes to business rates. Businesses are under siege from a Chancellor either unable to make up her mind about how to plug the growing hole in the public finances, or worse, running out of ideas altogether. Thursday's shocking job figures lay bare the extent of Labour's ruin. The unemployment rate is at a four-year high of 4.7pc – higher than economists expected. Nearly 200,000 jobs have been lost since Labour came to power. To compound matters, companies are cutting back on hiring too. This is Labour's record in black and white – taxes and red tape are destroying jobs, and yet Reeves has the nerve to tell an audience of City bigwigs this week that 'Britain is better off under Labour'. It's Alice in Wonderland stuff. With wage growth slowing and inflation rising again – much of it homegrown – it means Britain is effectively on the brink of another cost of living crisis, if indeed it had managed to escape the current one. Salvation almost now lies in the arms of the equally bumbling bank of England in the form of rate cuts. God help us all. Manufacturing is no different. It is those same employment costs that have torched other sectors, together with the highest energy bills in Europe, that are crippling industry, so for Starmer to be boasting about protecting jobs when the Government is laying waste to industry is an insult. Still, at least his choice of audience was somewhat apt – Jaguar's virtue-signalling rebrand suggests management wouldn't know good taste if it painted itself in the same garish colour as the 'Barbie pink' electric car that it has fooled itself into believing younger customers will want to buy. The long-awaited industrial strategy will help but only at the margins. It focuses too heavily on future-facing industries such as digital technology, clean energy and advanced manufacturing, at the expense of established ones, and contains too few real measures to help those in peril. A promise to bring down electricity prices for energy-intensive companies sounds like precisely the tonic required until it becomes clear that firms must go through an agonising two-year consultation period merely to determine whether they are eligible for subsidies or not. JLR's retreat wasn't the first and it certainly won't be the last while Starmer and Reeves continue to grab recklessly at Britain's economic levers.
BBC News
17-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
MP Neil Shastri-Hurst under investigation
A West Midlands MP has been placed under investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Shastri-Hurst, Conservative MP for Solihull West and Shirley, will be investigated in his capacity as chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Defence Technology. The matter relates to due diligence of funding provided to the group's secretariat. A spokesperson for Shastri-Hurst said strict confidentiality requirements applied while the process was ongoing. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
16-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Birmingham and Solihull measles cases stabilise
Measles cases in Birmingham and Solihull have "stabilised" but parents are still being encouraged to get their children was one of the cities that experienced an outbreak earlier this year, with government figures showing 26 confirmed cases between January and of the NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (ICB) discussed the issue at a meeting on medical officer Clara Day said herd immunity and getting the population vaccinated was important to stopping the spread of the disease. She said: "There certainly has been an increase above the baseline – which is zero – and we were worried for a few weeks but it seems to have stabilised out."We still have the same concerns around immunisation rates."Chief executive David Melbourne said: "Ruth [Tennant] – public health director in Solihull – is working with our children's hospital to try and get some of the safe messaging across Birmingham and Solihull about the importance of vaccination for children."We know measles for young people can be tragic so there is some work to do there." 'Avoid misinformation' The ICB had been urging people to get up to date with their measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jabs for the past few June, the ICB's chief nursing officer, Helen Kelly, said: "There are lots of myths and misconceptions about the MMR vaccination, but we know it is safe, effective and remains our best protection against a virus which can be life-threatening in the most serious cases."The MMR vaccination is safe for all faiths and cultures, and a pork-free version is available for those who avoid pork products."If you're unsure, I strongly encourage parents to speak to their GP, health visitor or nurse to get accurate information and avoid the risks of misinformation which spreads easily online."This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
16-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
From Stourbridge school boy to Tour De France race leader
In 2011, a 12-year-old boy was looping around an outdoor velodrome in the Midlands, and now he will wear the yellow jersey that distinguishes him as race leader of The Tour De Ben Healy was a regular at the Halesowen track with his dad, Bryan. "Back then it was never about becoming a professional, it was the simple enjoyment of riding bikes, track, road and mountain," said the beaming there he moved to Solihull Cycling Club to race on roads, and that is when his journey to being the first rider to represent Ireland - due to his connection to his late grandmother - and claim the yellow jersey for 38 years began. Bryan said his son has developed a more soulful connection to his grandmother's home nation."I wish my mum was still here to see it because she'd have been so proud, it's really opened up his sense of his Irishness," he said. In 2022, Healy signed with US-based cycling team EF Education Easy Post, which secured him a place in the World Tour now the 24-year old has been carving out a specialist niche as a breakaway artist ever since. Not possessed with the power of a sprinter or the aerobic capacity of a climber, at 5ft 7in (170cm), he discovered that if he was strategic about his choice of races and stages it could net him stage wins in the sports three biggest Grand Tours. In the 2023, at Giro d'Italia he came from 60km (37 miles) out and on Thursday, in his Tour De France debut he surprised all his rivals with 43km (27 miles) to was not because of when he attacked but where as Healy used a slightly downhill fast approach, unlike the mid-climb attacks he had previously used as a launch recalled how 10 days previously in Boulogne, his son had earmarked the Bastille Day stage for an attack, but as with most things in the fast moving tour, events and plans said: "Everyone knows how Ben rides, he targeted several stages, of which Monday's was one, but after winning last Thursday's stage I didn't think it was likely he'd get away or be allowed to breakaway."Discussing his son's success from a local pub in Wordsley, just outside Stourbridge, Bryan said: "He was still a bit numb, but beaming."Bryan has now started his journey to Toulouse to see his son on the evening of the rest day to savour his success, before a string of days in the Pyrenees followed by the Mount Ventoux stage next Tuesday. Asked if the 'golden fleece' would rest heavy on his young son's shoulders, Bryan said: "He'll get through tomorrow, hopefully, he'll try his best and the Hautacam on Thursday will be tricky."But, how many times has he surprised everyone just in this last week?" he added. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Telegraph
15-07-2025
- Automotive
- Telegraph
Is the new Range Rover Electric worth £170,000? I drove it to find out
It's finally here. Sort of. The Range Rover Electric will not be available until 2026, despite initial suggestions of an on-sale date in the latter half of this year. Nothing more precise than that, with no indication of prices either. But prototypes and pre-production cars exist on the world's testing facilities as well as on the roads around Land Rover's Solihull base. And I have driven one of these prototypes, during the Goodwood Festival of Speed, to see how it measures up. The rumoured cost is about £170,000 – roughly equivalent to the V8 petrol version, which was the benchmark for this newcomer since gestation and during development. The Range Rover line-up starts at £105,675. Despite the lack of hard figures, Range Rover says that it has a 'client waiting list' of 62,000 souls. What we do know is that the battery is a 118kWh (useable) item. There's 550PS (542bhp) and 850Nm (627lb ft) of torque, with a range in the region of 300-330 miles and a 0-62mph sprint time of about 4.5 seconds, although no performance figures have been announced yet. 'It's a Range Rover first, an EV second,' can be heard a lot; all the engineers and development drivers have been well versed in this mantra. Test drive My all-too-brief introduction to the Range Rover Electric was to demonstrate its abilities over a series of daunting obstacles of the type used during development. Essentially the aim was for the EV to do everything the existing combustion models can – and perhaps a little more, since careful calibration of the torque delivery allows the electric drivetrain to 'talk' to existing electronic systems such as Hill Descent Control. The first is a series of crazy-looking ramps to simulate crawling over massive boulders, which pitch one (sometimes two) wheels in the air while balancing precariously. As with all off-roading, smooth and gentle is the key to progress (the desire not to prang a development car also prompts caution). Suffice to say that the car was more composed than its driver, imparting a feeling of stability and control via a zillion calculations monitoring progress. It's called Integrated Traction Management and ensures that the prodigious torque doesn't overwhelm the amount of grip. The second test is a ramp, which doesn't look that steep until you start to drive up it and can see only the sky. Fortunately the car's surround camera system displays images of ahead and below for guidance. Gently over the top, then let the car demonstrate its seamless integration of single-pedal driving and Hill Descent Control. How so? Simply take your foot off the accelerator and let the car creep its way down. The third is a simple-looking diagonal crossing of an obstacle, once again with the low-speed Rock Crawl setting engaged. The surprise comes as the vehicle's weight makes it tip, forcing the electronic systems to prevent it rolling off. It would have been interesting to do the same course in a V8 Range Rover for direct comparison, although the development engineers insist that the fast-responding electric drive units provide greater ease of use and improved control (compared with the complex sequence of sucking and pumping inherent in a combustion engine). JLR claims that in detecting and managing wheel slip, the EVs set-up is 100 times faster than the combustion cars. It's all about the calibration – a phrase that occurs frequently throughout the afternoon. What's all the fuss about? For those who still believe that electric cars should have futuristic, quasi-spaceship styling to emphasise their cutting-edge technology, the greatest surprise about this EV Range Rover is how normal it looks. Extra charging flap aside, they are identical. It's the same story inside. Land Rover has even retained its traditional capstan gearlever, although it performs different functions than it does in the combustion-engined cars; the S is for single-pedal driving (with regenerative braking) rather than Sport mode. It all emphasises that the Range Rover Electric is an alternative to the existing line-up, not a replacement. Electric drivetrain The advantages of battery power are a linear response to the accelerator along with effortless torque delivery. Initial rumours had suggested the Range Rover Electric might have three or even four drive motors, yet in the final set-up there are only two, one at each end of the car. It's four-wheel drive, obviously, with a slight rearward bias in the power delivery. The battery and control electronics were developed in-house and are currently produced in Wolverhampton, which has the added benefit of bolstering Land Rover's credentials for Britishness. Chief engineer Simon Fairbrother explained that the 118kWh battery has 344 cells using NMC chemistry, in two decks of 172, made possible by the vehicle's height. With a 350kW charging capability (assuming you can find any such super-fast chargers in the UK), charging the battery from 10 to 80 per cent is claimed to take only 20 minutes. The clever bit is the thermal management, so that heat can be directed to where it is needed (to warm the electric motors or optimise charging in cold weather, for instance). Range Rover claims that its Thermal Assist system is so sophisticated that it can recover heat even when the external temperature is minus 15 degrees centigrade. It's a claim that's hard to dispute, but impressive none the less. In reverse, the system channels excess heat within the battery pack to the atmosphere via a system of radiators and vents. Electric always planned The current Range Rover, which has the internal designation L460, was designed to be an EV from the outset. Hence it can be built on the same production line as the existing models. Currently, the combustion cars have the engine, gearbox, mechanical four-wheel-drive gubbins and associated subframes lifted in the bodyshell. In the EV, the battery and electric motors are raised instead (obviously there's no longer a mechanical linkage between engine and driveshafts). The only difference is that it takes slightly longer to 'marry' the EV drivetrain, as there are more bolts to tighten. Fairbrother added that the frame around the battery pack improves the torsional stiffness of the car, while the centre of gravity is also lowered compared with a combustion model. The suspension has twin-chamber air springs as standard, to better manage pitch and squat under acceleration and braking, which are potentially more pronounced in this version than in the current combustion cars due to the virtually instantaneous torque delivery. Do you want one? Although Jaguar announced long ago that it's going to be an all-electric brand, this Range Rover is in fact parent company JLR's first battery-powered production car. Lessons learnt during its ongoing development will no doubt inform Jaguar's controversial electric GT. Range Rovers have always featured V8 engines, so the concept of a battery-powered version is still alien to some. For that tranche of buyers, there will still be petrol, diesel and hybrid options. But in truth the silence and smoothness of an electric powertrain suits a luxury car; the improvements in these areas (not that combustion-engined Range Rovers are particularly bothersome) ensure the electric version complements the existing line-up. We'll have to see when we drive the finished car, but on the evidence thus far the Range Rover Electric might just be the best of the bunch.
