Lord Mandelson on Friday signalled Britain’s readiness to provide loans or loan guarantees to help finance the spin-off of General Motors’ European Opel/Vauxhall arm.

GM is seeking about €500m (£428m) from Britain in addition to funds from other European countries that host its plants. Germany has already extended Opel’s €1.5bn of bridge financing to keep it afloat and plans to offer more in loans and guarantees.