The UK's chief automotive workers' union is calling on the government to establish a Covid-esque furlough scheme for the thousands of individuals who face losing their jobs due to the cyber-related downtime at Jaguar Land Rover.

Unite said it's already received reports that layoffs have begun for some workers across JLR's supply chain. Those employed directly by JLR are thought to be less at risk of redundancy than those across the automaker's extensive list of external suppliers.

"The government needs to defend jobs when our industries are under attack," said Sharon Graham, general secretary at Unite.

"Many UK workers in small and medium automotive manufacturers are already facing insecurity because of the low volume crisis in the sector. Thousands of these workers in the JLR supply ch

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