The trades unions' view
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• Leyland's unions say they are "disgusted" and "dismayed" at the Daf deal. "The Government has not merged, or even sold Leyland — it has just given it away," says Len Brindle, Leyland's Amalgamated Engineering Union district secretary.
"It'sa takeover, plain and simple," says the Transport and General Workers Union national motor industry secretary Mick Murphy. "We fear that in the long term Daf will want to source all of the truck range from Holland."
"This isn't a deal for Leyland, it's a deal for Daf," says Brindle. "The Daf negotiator who talked with that buffoon Channon must have had to keep pricking himself to make sure he was not dreaming. They are laughing all the way to the bank."
The unions are incensed that Leyland has been taken out of the Rover Group at a time when its fortunes are on the up-andup. "We're selling well. We're number one in the UK market, ahead of Mercedes even", says Brindle. "Now is the time for the Government to show strong support."
The 2,200 job losses which have already been officially confirmed are just the tip of the iceberg, says Murphy: "We haven't been given the full effects yet."
"For every job we lose at Leyland. two will go in the supply and component industry in Britain," says Brindle. "The Dutch are not going to lose a single job. The Dutch, like most of the continentals, have built-in protective labour laws so that workers indigenous to those countries do not lose their jobs. Leyland will become an assembly satellite and there is no real profit to be made in assembly. Daf could cut us off straight away, the first time an ill wind blows over Holland.
"At the end of the day, I'm convinced Daf was only interested in our excellent dealer and distribution network," he claims.
Both unions reject the argument that Leyland needed a strong overseas partner to help it gain a bigger slice of the international truck market.