Unions and managers at Britain's large Rover car factory at Longbridge in the English Midlands have agreed a deal to save the plant from closure.

The deal came after talks with Rover's parent company, BMW, in Germany.

The deal includes two-and a half thousand job losses and will be put to a ballot of the thirty-nine-thousand Rover workers.

BMW had warned that it might need to close the plant unless there was an improvement in productivity by more flexible working practices.

These have been agreed by union representatives who said closure would have been a huge blow to British manufacturing.