OXFORD’S heart is broken today by the announcement from our famous BMW Mini plant.

In many ways this factory, with the proud history and heritage it embodies, is the heart of our city.

And for the thousands who work there, there won’t be any justice in yesterday’s announcement.

Managers will now decide which 400 workers to axe based on a list of written criteria: how long you have worked there; what your ‘skill set’ is; your disciplinary record at work.

Where is the humanity in such a process? Where is the taking account of hard workers who have only just arrived? What about workers with young families to support who don’t happen to have the skills that BMW think they need?

What about that worker who brightens everyone’s day, whose absence will drag morale even lower?

There is no positive side to this story, only heartbreak.

Now there are two challenges: firstly for the managers at the Mini plant to do everything they can to avoid the need for future redundancies, and make the business work for shareholders, employees and customers.

Secondly, there is a challenge for GI Group, the actual employer of the 400 agency workers about to lose their jobs at the BMW plant.

GI now needs to do everything it can do get these workers job opportunities elsewhere.

We are a city of hard workers, and we are also a city famed for its start-up companies, and we live in a county repeatedly touted by Government as part of the UK's 'Silicon Valley', where tech start-ups are grown into major companies.

Lastly, we are also one of the most affluent parts of the country.

For our city not to be able to reach out and help these 400 and more would be an embarrassment and a stain on our reputation. Recession or not, that is not what Oxford does.