Cameron went on to say that "the whole experiment with regional assemblies has been a complete mistake. The halfway house we've now got, where RDAs are being given planning powers, is a disaster too... there's a very strong case, at least in parts of the country, that RDAs should go altogether".

Hang on a minute. Scrapping RDAs could well lead to a recentralisation of policy making and delivery in London. Do the Tories really think that this will help the West Midlands economy?

Rather, this proposal seems to miss the point; a lot of good has actually been done by developing policies at the regional and local level rather than in Whitehall, and in providing strategic oversight regionally.

That MG TF production will finally restart in July this year also comes as some relief after lengthy delays given concerns over the quality of parts coming from China.

Let's get things in perspective, though. The TF is basically a 15-year old design with nearly all of the parts brought in from China. It is not a sustainable project beyond the very short term. And with StadCo leaving, we now basically see a screwdriver operation with very few linkages into the local economy and fewer benefits than we'd hoped for in terms of economic development.

That Shanghai are going ahead at all is the crucial thing, though. This keeps them interested in a site whether further production and R&D may come in time. It's here where the case needs to be made to SAIC. And there is a strong case to be made.

I'm sure that there have been some people at Nanjing who have been genuine in wanting to restart small scale MG car production at Longbridge. However, it is a small firm with few resources and doesn't really have much of a track record in developing and producing quality cars. It has had 3 years since it acquired MG Rover and has yet to get its act together at Longbridge. Little wonder people are growing increasingly sceptical of it really making a go of this.

Its takeover by Shanghai at the start of this year raised hopes that the bigger firm could now commit resources and bring R&D back to Longbridge. Well, the StadCo pullout has blown a big hole in that plan and urgent answers are now needed as to what is going on.

Ideally, of course, we'd like to see car manufacturing and R&D come back to Longbridge. It's just that many are wondering if this will ever happen.

StadCo and Nanjing said simply that "Stadco and NAC jointly confirm that for commercial reasons, production of bodyshells for the MGTF by Stadco will cease. Both parties are working to ensure minimum disruption to the workforce." They added that "consultations with elected employee representatives will commence immediately and every effort will be made to assist those affected by this announcement".

Until today, StadCo had been seen as a key partner for Nanjing in its efforts to restart small scale MGTF production at Longbridge, and had shifted body-shell production there from its site in Coventry (StadCo had always made the body shells for the MGTF, back under MG Rover days).

Quite where this leaves MGTF production is the big question.

Tata is a huge Indian conglomerate with a turnover getting on for $22 billion. Its deep pockets have allowed it to outbid rivals constrained by the recent credit crunch.

Ford are flogging off some prize assets after a record $12 billion loss in 2006 and a downward spiral of sales of gas guzzling SUVs and pick-up trucks in the US prompted by the high price of oil.

Indeed, Ford's US sales were down by some 12% last year and Toyota has just replaced it as the number 2 producer in the US for the first time.

To its credit, Ford has invested heavily in both Jaguar and Land Rover. Yet it lost lots of money.

Partly this is down to exchange rates, with sterling at a twenty five year high against the dollar of over $2. This has made selling to the key US market very difficult and has impacted badly on Jaguar sales there.

This wasn't helped by Ford's inability to understand the European luxury car market.

Wearing my Birmingham Post automotive correspondent's hat I report on a manufacturing sector that, despite what the cynics and doom-mongers say, is still a vital element of the manufacturing base both of the West Midlands and the UK as a whole as well as the regional and national economy.

There are some out there who simply cannot understand why Britain is still making motor cars in the 21st century.

Yes, we have lost Longbridge, Ryton and Browns Lane as major carmaking sites. But Jaguar and Land Rover (albeit perhaps soon in Indian ownership) remain at the heart of the industry.