The Brexit excuse

Brexit is a wonderful cover for bosses trying to explain a bad performance to their shareholders and workforce. For John Lewis, a 99 per cent fall in profits was “in part due to ongoing Brexit negotiations”, according to the chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield – without his quite spelling out how. Yet there were other factors that were almost certainly more influential, particularly the heavy discounting by competitors requiring John Lewis to match their prices.

Ralf Speth, the chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), caused consternation among Brexiteers last week when he predicted huge job losses and falling revenues in the event of a “chaotic” no-deal Brexit. The company yesterday announced that workers at its Castle Bromwich plant in the West Midlands would be put on a three-day week until Christmas, which is evidently not linked to a “hard Brexit” since such a thing has not happened yet and probably won’t.

The local Labour MP Jack Dromey said the JLR decision was Brexit linked; but he at least acknowledged that the transition from petrol and diesel cars to electric vehicles was equally to blame.

Indeed, this is the real story facing the car industry. The rapid shift away from diesel vehicles has hit JLR hard because 90 per cent of its UK sales have been in diesel until recently. It is more exposed than any other car company to the changeover, which has not been handled well by successive governments, including Labour.

Of course there is continuing uncertainty around the UK’S departure from the EU that still has to be resolved. But it is misleading to attribute every setback in industry and commerce to Brexit.