I did not blame the Government for Rover's collapse, Alan Page (Oxford Mail, May 2), only for driving its icon, the 75 off the road -- this it has accomplished.

The £40m he complains of was made by asset stripping, not sales, as proved by an aerial photo showing thousands of unsold Rovers on an unused airfield.

MG Rover was sold for peanuts because it was doomed unless its workforce was halved. An interested team of experts was prepared to implement this, but for electoral reasons this was vetoed.

Instead it was taken over by entrepreneurs who maintained a normal workforce until the assets had been stripped and Rover bankrupted.

The Government was desperate to keep Rover going until after the election. That is why of the £150m aid package promised, only £89m was new money, more than £40m had already been allocated.

I agree with Mr Page that if there is a £73m black hole in the pension funds, it is deplorable, but Gordon Brown's disastrous private pension policy is mainly responsible, as it is throughout the UK.

HARRY LANDON

Inott Furze, Headington, Oxford