He was present at the meeting in Birmingham with the Labour government's leaders Tony Blair and Gordon Brown along with Tony Woodley on 8 April 2005 when the future of MG Rover was decided. The Labour government decided not to give further support to MG Rover and consequently the company entered into administrative receivership, with 6,500 employees being made redundant in addition to many other employees of its car dealerships and component suppliers in the United Kingdom. Burden, as the MP for Northfield which included Longbridge, raised the issue in Parliament from time to time, in relation to the local economy, jobs and skills.