UPDATE 1-UK union confident over Jaguar after Tata talks

(Adds Ford comment, detail, background)

By Pete Harrison

LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - A British labour union said on Friday it had held constructive talks with India's Tata Motors (TAMO.BO) over its planned acquisition of Ford Motor Co's (F.N) luxury UK brands Jaguar and Land Rover.

Ford also reiterated there had been good progress in discussions with Tata and it was still expecting an agreement early in 2008.

"We are confident our members' long-term future is best served by Tata," said Dave Osborne, national secretary for vehicle building at the Unite union. "They totally ruled out offloading Jaguar or building Land Rovers in India."

Unite is the main union representing workers at Land Rover and Jaguar, and has about 12,000 members there.

Tata, India's top vehicle maker, and which unveiled the world's cheapest car last month, has been in talks with Ford since it was chosen as the front-runner to buy the units a few days into 2008.

Buying the luxury brands would give the Indian automaker a substantial presence outside India.

Ford has been exploring their sale since last June in an effort to shore up its balance sheet and reduce debt.

"There's a couple of clarifications we still need from Ford, but I don't see any issues arising from that," Unite's Osborne said.

He said Tata had given assurances that engines would still be taken from Ford and that UK manufacturing would be maintained.

All Jaguar and Land Rover's petrol engines are from a Ford plant in south Wales. Diesel engines come from Ford's factory in Dagenham, east London. (Reporting by Pete Harrison; Editing by Quentin Bryar)