Blair's headache over job losses

Tony Blair: Man in the middle as jobs disappear

By BBC News Online political correspondent Nick Assinder

Tony Blair appears to have succeeded in his attempt to postpone the closure of Motorola's plant at Bathgate in the east of Scotland.

It is believed that, following the prime minister's personal intervention, the firm is willing to discuss all options other than closure with the loss of 3,000 jobs.

That will be good news for the workforce and for the government - but there is still a long way to go before final decisions are made.

And it has to be said that the prime minister's record in trying to head off large closures has not been good.

No warning

Just one year ago, the government was under severe attack after BMW's shock decision to sell off the loss-making Rover car company.

MPs on all sides were appalled that the company had apparently failed to warn the government of its intentions.

Rover sell-off sparked protests

But the firm insisted it had sent clear signals to ministers of what was on the cards - and the focus of the attacks turned on to Trade Secretary Stephen Byers.

He was accused of being incompetent - and of misleading the workforce by failing to tell them that the sell-off was imminent.

In the end he was cleared of most of the charges by the Commons trade and industry select committee.

Not the government's role

But the MPs did report they had detected "some failures in the government's intelligence gathering mechanism".

At the time of the closure, Tony Blair expressed his regret but said it was not the government's role to rescue ailing companies.

He is, after all, a free marketeer and believes the main responsibility of the government is to create the best conditions in which business and industry can flourish.

But the government took a severe knock as a result of the sell-off - with many believing it had simply been ignored by a company that believed its plans were none of the prime minister's business.

The government was left looking powerless.

Corus axed 6,000 jobs

That was bad enough.

But only two months ago the Anglo-Dutch company Corus announced it was closing its steel plants in the UK with the loss of 6,000 jobs.

On this occasion, the prime minister lost no time in urging the firm to think again - and described its decision as a "devastating blow."

But there was little he could do beyond urging the firm to change its mind.

And so far it has shown absolutely no sign that it has taken any notice of his pleas.

Regeneration aid

Ministers have been left promising to offer aid to help boost economic regeneration in the affected areas.

And now it is Motorola and Cammell Laird which are giving the prime minister a major new headache.

He has called for a rethink of Motorola's decision to close the Bathgate plant and has promised not to walk away from the problem.

But the overwhelming view now is that in all these case, huge multinational companies pay scant regard to the views of individual governments.

Mr Blair is, inevitably, caught in the middle here.

He cannot directly intervene - yet he still wants to be seen to be doing everything possible to protect jobs.

Cammell Laird: New crisis

And, with the election probably only two months away, the prime minister could live without seeing thousands of jobs being axed in heartland areas of the country.

TUC general secretary John Monks summed up many people's fears when he said the threatened new job losses showed how fragile manufacturing industry had become.

High pound

He once again blamed the high pound and the fallout from the economic troubles in the US, and called for lower interest rates and a "more determined industrial strategy " from the government.

These demands are likely to grow between now and the election and could prove highly damaging for the government.

But there was some good news for the prime minister - with unemployment hitting a 25 year low.

Ministers say this shows the government's underlying economic strategy is working and is boosting employment in the UK.

And this is the economic statistic they will be making most of between now and polling day.