A POWERFUL House of Commons committee chaired by Mid Worcestershire MP Peter Luff has announced an inquiry into the role of the government in the struggle to save the ailing MG Rover giant as an independent volume car maker.

The Trade and Industry Committee will focus on three key areas: the role played by the then trade and industry secretary Stephen Byers during the disposal of its MG Rover subsidiary by BMW; the attempts by the then secretary of state Patricia Hewitt to support MG Rover during its negotiations with Shanghai Automotive in early 2005 and, "the effectiveness to date of the recovery package and taskforce for the Rover workforce and the West Midlands more generally after the company went into receivership".

The committee will explore whether the government should have done more to save Rover - or whether it intervened too much.

The committee issued a statement saying it did not intend to anticipate the DTI inspectors' investigation under Section 432 of the Companies Act into the affairs of the MG Rover group, including Pheonix Venture Holdings Ltd and MG Capital Ltd.

"That investigation concerns the actions of private companies, which fall outside the remit of the committee," said a statement.

The committee has invited written submissions to the inquiry to be sent to the clerk by 5pm on Monday March 13.