PM urged to abandon ‘red lines’ as Airbus warns of leaving

Theresa May is facing calls to abandon her Brexit “red lines” after aerospace giant Airbus warned it could pull out of the UK with the loss of thousands of jobs if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal.

The company, which employs 14,000 people at 25 sites across the country, said it would “reconsider its investments in the UK, and its long-term footprint in the country” if Britain was forced to leave the single market and customs union in March 2019 without any transition agreement in place.

The statement was greeted with dismay by unions, opposition parties and pro-EU Tories who called on ministers to come up with a “pragmatic, sensible Brexit” which protected trade and jobs.

The government insisted negotiations with Brussels were making “good progress” and it was confident that a “no deal scenario” would not arise.

However Airbus said that it had been trying to raise its concerns about where the negotiations were heading for the past year without success.

Conservative former Welsh secretary Stephen Crabb said the firm’s warning should be a wake-up call for ministers.

“The enormous Airbus factory in North Wales is one of the jewels in the crown of UK manufacturing. A pragmatic, sensible Brexit that protects trade and jobs is vital,” he said.