A disastrous deal

FOR weeks the Mail has argued that the hostile takeover of GKN – one of our great engineering firms – by the City predators at Melrose was not in Britain’s interests.

Yesterday, GKN’s biggest customer Airbus agreed. Senior executive Tom Williams said it would be ‘ practically impossible’ to sign off new work if the deal went through. Short-termist sharks would damage GKN’s long-term prospects by slashing research, he warned.

Significantly, his intervention prompted a major shareholder, Jupiter Asset Management, to declare its opposition to the deal, and highlight risks to the company’s pension fund.

Amid warnings that the sale could cost 10,000 jobs, ministers should think again about the dangers of handing a firm of such strategic importance to a bunch of getrich-quick merchants.

Meanwhile, Remainers have all-too-predictably blamed Brexit for Unilever’s decision to relocate its headquarters to Holland – despite the consumer goods giant emphatically denying this was the cause. Indeed, the firm recently made a £ 24million investment in a plant in the Wirral, proof of its strong commitment to this country. Where were the Remoaners then?