LONDON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - The British government wants to help the car industry through the economic downturn but the main responsibility lies with the carmakers' owners, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Friday.
Speculation has grown this week that the government is about to step in to support car manufacturers as the credit crunch takes its toll on industry.
"We want to do everything we can to help the car industry through these difficult times," Brown told a news conference.
He said it was "very important to recognise that the first responsibility for the running of a particular company lies with the company itself."
"We are happy to debate these issues with the car industry but I'm not able ... to announce any particular decisions today," he said.
Brown's comments came as Derek Simpson, joint general secretary of the Unite union, urged the government to provide short-term financial assistance to Britain's car industry before Christmas.
"Only action by the Treasury in the next few days will safeguard the tens of thousands of jobs and the many communities across the country depending on car manufacturing for their livelihoods," Simpson said in a statement.
The United States announced a $17.4 billion loan package to rescue its stricken auto makers on Friday.
Business minister Peter Mandelson confirmed this week that he had held talks with luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover, which he said was under "particular strain".
He said the government, which has added billions of pounds to the national debt by nationalising or taking stakes in several banks, did not have an open cheque book.
Tata Motors Ltd, India's top vehicle maker, only completed the $2.3 billion acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor Co in June.
New car registrations in Britain plunged 36.8 percent on the year in November, the steepest decline in nearly three decades, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said.
British car dealer Lookers issued a profit warning on Friday and scrapped its final dividend, blaming increasingly tough trading conditions in both new and used car markets.
The warning follows similar alerts from rivals Inchcape and Pendragon as Britons cut back discretionary spending due to fears of recession and rising unemployment.
Paul Everitt, chief executive of the SMMT, the British car industry's trade group, said after a meeting with Mandelson last month that the industry faced "unprecedented difficulties in the market place".
Saying there was an urgent need to address liquidity and restore demand, he said government and industry had agreed to look at a range of solutions. (Reporting by Adrian Croft, Christina Fincher; Editing by Andrew Macdonald)