Baroness Vadera has said that she would be willing to meet with motorsport's governing body
FIA, as well as British-based
Formula One teams and the Motorsport Industry Association in an effort to review the effect any proposed budget cap in the top flight would have on the UK motorsport industry.
The offer came in response to a question put to the House of Lords' 'Grand Committee' by MIA president Lord Astor of Hever, who asked the government to comment on its plans to support the industry in order that it did not lose its position as a world leader in motorsport. Lord Astor warned that the proposed budget cap plan designed to cut costs of competing in F1 could lead to 'imminent severe job losses.... that will hit this country harder than others in Europe'.
"It has been widely reported that the UK industry faces a dramatic downturn at the 'high end of motorsport' in the very near future," Lord Astor said in his address, "The sport's governing body, the FIA, has confirmed that it will shortly require a significant reduction in the spending budgets allowed in
F1. As the majority of F1 teams are based in this country, this will commercially affect us far more than any other country in Europe. There will be substantial cutbacks in the employment of engineers in the teams and by their specialist UK suppliers. Sadly, it seems that we will be a victim of our past success.
"The prime minister's Strategy Unit discussion paper, issued last month,
Future Strategic Challenges for Britain, identified UK motorsport as a prime example of Britain hosting world-class, high performance innovation and engineering leaders. These skilled employees are precisely those on whom the prime minister relies for the future of UK manufacturing; they are all well skilled in advanced, innovative, value-added high performance engineering. Through no fault of their own, or of their employers, they will find re-employment difficult within this specialised sector during a period of such significant decline.
