Even so, says Garel Rhys, professor of motor-industry economics at Cardiff University, car makers keep investing in Britain.

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What do Tristan Garel-Jones, Michael Howard and Maria Miller have in common?

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Against this background, Garel Rhys, director of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff Business School, warned of further job losses in Wales' motor industry.

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Prof Garel Rhys, of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff University, said the LTI product had been protected for too long by the lack of what he called "free market entry".

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Garel Rhys, professor of motor industry economics at Cardiff University Business School, points to a swathe of recent investments by Ford, Honda and others, made even though it was clear that Britain would not be in the euro from the outset.

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Lords Garel-Jones and Howard were both linked with the Welsh job during the Thatcher and Major years when Welsh Conservative cabinet material was thin on the ground and any junior minister with tenuous connections to Wales would find himself linked with the job.

BBC: New "Welsh" name tipped for Secretary of State's job