A LONG-AWAITED report into the collapse of car giant MG Rover will be published today, more than four years after the motor firm went out of business with the loss of thousands of jobs.

The independent inquiry into the crisis has cost the taxpayer more than £16 million and will detail the Government's efforts to save the firm, including a £100 million bridging loan, as well as the involvement of the so-called Phoenix Four.

They were the businessmen who bought MG Rover for a nominal £10 from owner BMW.

The four businessmen - former MG Rover chairman John Towers, vice-chairman Peter Beale, Nick Stephenson and John Edwards - have been given copies of the 850-page report to study before its official publication.

It is expected the report will reveal the four took more than £40m in pay and pensions from the troubled firm.

Rover's collapse led to the closure of the factory at Longbridge in Birmingham, which has since re-opened under Chinese ownership building MG sports cars with a workforce of a few hundred.

Publication of the report follows a decision by the Serious Fraud Office not to pursue a fraud investigation into the demise of the company.

It has been suggested that the report will make "uncomfortable" reading for the Government, especially over the bridging loan.