Liam Byrne MP fears JLR hack could see thousands laid off

The cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is a “digital siege” that is seeing supply chain workers “laid off in their hundreds”, an MP has said.

Liam Byrne, chair of the Commons business and trade committee and Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill & North Solihull, said: “We fear if the government doesn’t step up soon, people will be laid off in their thousands.”

The firm said on Tuesday factory production would not resume until 24 September at the earliest and apologised for the ongoing disruption.

The hack happened more than two weeks ago and has forced the company to shut down computer systems and halt production.

Though some have warned disruption could last until November, JLR described this as “speculation”.

Production lines were paused on 1 September, when the hack came to light.

The shutdown is believed to be costing the firm, which has factories in Solihull, Castle Bromwich and Halewood, an engine facility in Wolverhampton, and plants overseas, at least £50m a week.

The company has not revealed how much damage was caused, but a criminal investigation has begun.

JLR said it had delayed restarting production as “forensic investigation” of the cyber incident continued and it considered a “controlled restart” of global operations.

Government minister for industry Chris McDonald said: “We know this is a worrying time for those affected, and although Jaguar Land Rover are taking the lead on support for their own supply chain, our cyber experts are supporting them to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”

He said he had met with the company on Tuesday to discuss its plans to get production started again and would be meeting firms in the supply chain in the coming days.

The Unite union has claimed JLR supply chain workers laid off with reduced or no pay are being advised to apply for universal credit. JLR has declined to comment on the claim.

The firm’s supply chain supports 104,000 jobs in the UK, with many suppliers dependent on the carmaker as their main customer.

Byrne said he had written to the chancellor to request Covid-style emergency help for suppliers.

“This is not a mere flicker on the screen at Jaguar Land Rover, this is a digital siege and it’s sent a cyber shockwave through their supply chain,” he said.

“We think this is an attack which is much, much worse than the attack that took down Marks and Spencer.”

He said, with more of these types of attacks happening, the government needed to act as a backstop to a “different insurance system” to help firms which was not currently in place.

Meanwhile, West Midlands mayor Richard Parker said the attack was having a massive impact on JLR and the supply chain.

He said he wanted to reassure people he was talking to the business secretary, the chancellor, JLR, and unions “and we have good understanding of the issues which need to be resolved”.

He added the firm was working with the government, “collating and collecting” the impact of the shut down on businesses across the supply chain, and to develop “best approaches about intervening to help them over the next few weeks and months”.