Fears grow Jaguar to close UK plant

Union leaders in Britain were tonight preparing for a crucial meeting with executives of luxury carmaker Jaguar amid speculation the firm is to close one of its UK factories with the loss of 2,000 jobs.

Union officials will meet managers tomorrow to discuss the future of the Browns Lane factory in Coventry, where the XJ saloon and XK sport car are made.

Production of the cars could switch to the nearby Castle Bromwich site in Birmingham, which makes the S-Type.

The company refused to comment ahead of the meeting, merely repeating that reports of the closure were “speculation”.

Amicus has warned Jaguar's owner Ford would be “foolish” to close one of its British factories and argued the company’s sales figures were healthy.

Ford is expected to counter any bad news in Coventry with an announcement of a big investment in its factory at Dagenham in Essex.

The company will blame poor sales if it does go ahead and close the factory.

Last month it put all three of its UK factories on short-time working and said it was cutting production by around 10%.