BMW joins Airbus in warning over Brexit impact
Car giant BMW has joined Airbus in raising concerns over the Brexit negotiations.
The aerospace company has said it could pull out of the UK with the loss of thousands of jobs if Britain leaves the EU without a deal.
BMW, which makes Mini and Rolls Royce in the UK, said it needed clarity by the end of the summer.
Speaking to the BBC, the car maker’s UK boss, Ian Roberston, said: “If we don’t get clarity in the next couple of months we have to start making those contingency plans – which means investing money in systems that we might not need, in warehouses that might not be usable in the future, in effectively making the UK automotive industry less competitive than it is in a very competitive world right now.
“That is a decisive issue that ultimately could damage this industry.”
Yesterday, Airbus sent shockwaves throughout British industry when it 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.
Airbus employs 14,000 people at 25 sites across the country. Katherine Bennett, Airbus’ senior vice-president in the UK, said: “We don’t deal in idle threats. We seriously believe a no deal Brexit would be catastrophic.”
She said the government had been made well aware of the company’s views during “extensive and frank” discussions.
A government spokeswoman said that while officials were working closely with companies to understand their concerns, they did not expect a “no deal” scenario to arise.
“We have made significant progress towards agreeing a deep and special partnership with the EU to ensure trade remains as free and frictionless as possible, including in the aerospace sector, and we’re confident of getting a good deal that is mutually beneficial,” she said.