British car companies seek help

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he doesn’t want his government to bail out struggling British car makers or their subsidiaries.

These are issues that will be debated over the next period of time, but there is no promise that we’ve made of any support, Brown said Friday.

Industry officials, however, say car manufacturing is vital to Britain’s future and could collapse without access to governor-backed credit, said Richard Lambert, director general of the Confederation of British Industry.

This is not money that’s being given away, it is money that will be repaid, Lambert told The Times of London in a story published Saturday.

An estimated 800,000 workers rely on jobs related to Britain’s car industry, where commercial vehicle production has dropped by half with just 97,600 cars made in Britain last month — the lowest number since 1987, the Times reported.

Tata, the Indian owner of Jaguar Land Rover is among the number of foreign car makers that have approached Britain’s government for help for their British subsidiaries, the Times reported.