A botched Brexit will hurt everyone
BREXIT will only be judged a success if it results in the people of the UK seeing their living standards rise, and for that to happen the industries and businesses that provide jobs will need to thrive.
If leaving the European Union makes it harder for employers to export goods and services and makes it less likely that staff will gain skills, then it will be very hard to argue that Brexit is good for Wales.
Airbus is a source of thousands of top-quality jobs in Wales – not just at the spectacular plant at Broughton, but throughout the supply chain – and it is a powerful driver of the economy. Yesterday, Katherine Bennett, senior vicepresident of Airbus UK, left MPs in no doubt about the top concerns about Brexit.
A key worry is that extra bureaucracy will create delays. A company with sites across Europe needs to transport components and products across borders daily; it is imperative that red tape does not tangle up Welsh operations.
It must not become harder for UK operations to win investment – especially not when international rivals want to move into the lucrative wing design and production business for which Broughton is recognised as a centre of excellence.
Ms Bennett told MPs she was “fighting to ensure that the wing design, what we call the Crown Jewels of aerospace, remains in this country,” adding: “I need to let you know, committee, that other countries would dearly love to design and build wings, and that some of them already do.”
It is a patriotic act to defend a nation’s Crown Jewels and it is vital that Brexit does nothing to threaten vital economic assets. The challenge is for the UK government to negotiate a deal with the EU which ensures that frictionless trade with the remaining member states is secured.
It is in the interests of the EU to also pursue such a deal. The likes of Airbus will be impoverished if its UK sites become less competitive, just as manufacturers across the EU will suffer if it becomes harder to sell to British businesses.
This is a time for pragmatism and reasonableness, and possibly some pride-swallowing. It is not a moment for macho posturing and ideological indulgence, no matter how much fun some politicians on both sides of the Channel may find such theatrics.
Europe as a continent faces epic challenges as China emerges as a true economic superpower. Every state in Europe that wants to see its citizens enjoy decent education and healthcare needs an economy to support highly expensive public services, and this requires turboboosting productivity.
A botched Brexit will only hold back the growth of the EU and its neighbours, right at the moment when we need new industries to deliver on their growth potential. We can hope that Chancellor Philip Hammond will use today’s Budget to give investors reason to feel confident about this country’s future, but to avoid stagnation and decline we need politicians to listen intently to the likes of Airbus. The Western Mail newspaper is published by Media Wales a subsidiary company of Trinity Mirror PLC, which is a member of IPSO, the Independent Press Standards Organisation. The entire contents of The Western Mail are the copyright of Media Wales Ltd. It is an offence to copy any of its contents in any way without the company’s permission. If you require a licence to copy parts of it in any way or form, write to the Head of Finance at Six Park Street. The recycled paper content of UK newspapers in 2016 was 62.8%