In May 2005, a month after the collapse of MG Rover, Alan Johnson, then the Trade and Industry Secretary, promised a speedy inquiry into what led to the failure of a business that had been operating for five years.

Today, 3 and a half years later, there is still no date for the completion of the independent investigation led by Guy Newey, QC. So far, the inquiry has cost the taxpayer £13.8 million. When questioned recently about the progress of the report by the Business Select Committee, Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, offered the department's routine response that it was an independent report and that the investigators needed to be able to mount a thorough investigation.

Yet he added “it says here”, referring to his notes in an indication that he might not be convinced by the progress.

Richard Burden, Labour MP for Birimingham Northfield, which includes Longbridge, said yesterday: “The non-appearance of this report means that people in the area — people who have lost their jobs — cannot have proper closure. They need the answers about what went wrong and the longer it goes on and the more hundreds of thousands of pounds are spent on it, they are not able to get them.”

Peter Luff, the Conservative chairman of the Business Select Committee, has called for a change in the way in which independent reviews for the Government are allowed to operate so that ministers can exert some deadline on an investigation. The investigation is being conducted under the Companies Act.

It followed not only the collapse of the business but also longstanding concern from politicians, unions and some companies in the supply chain over the running of the company by the Phoenix Four consortium. John Towers, the chairman, and his associates had taken over the company from BMW for a nominal £10 on a wave of public emotion, but suspicions about the conduct of the directors began to emerge when they established a labyrinthine corporate structure and took out large amounts of money as dividends.

The investigation is seeking to establish whether the directors acted properly and to find the causes of the company's failure.

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