Airbus ‘could leave UK over Brexit’
Airbus will reconsider presence in Britain if no trade deal is reached
Aerospace giant Airbus has warned it could pull out of the UK with the loss of thousands of jobs if Britain leaves the EU without a deal. The company, which employs 14,000 people at 25 sites, said it could “reconsider its investments in the UK” if Britain were forced to leave the single market and customs union.
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 the 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 wakeup 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.
For Labour, Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer said Mrs May needed to drop her Brexit “red lines”.
“The Government’s reckless decision to keep no-deal on the table and to rule out a customs union or strong single market deal after Brexit is putting jobs and the economy at risk,” he said.
“Ministers need to start listening to legitimate concerns of businesses and get a grip of the Brexit negotiations.”
Unite’s assistant general secretary Steve Turner said it was imperative the Government avoided a “cliff-edge” Brexit.
“It would be a betrayal of Airbus workers, their families and the tens of thousands of workers in the wider supply chain if the Government failed to secure frictionless trade and access to the customs union and single market,” he said.
However, former Ukip leader Nigel Farage suggested the warnings were exaggerated.
“Twenty years ago I heard car manufacturers saying if Britain didn’t join the euro they may well consider pulling out of Britain – Nissan, others like that,” he told Sky News.
“Big business will always lobby for their interests, of course they will.”
In a Brexit “risk assessment” published on its website, Airbus called on the Government to extend the planned transition period due to run until December 2020, saying it was too short for the business to reorganise its supply chain.
Tom Williams, the chief operating officer of Airbus Commercial Aircraft, said Brexit would have “severe negative consequences” for the UK aerospace industry whether or not there was an agreement with Brussels.
“While Airbus understands that the political process must go on, as a responsible business we require immediate details on the pragmatic steps that should be taken to operate competitively,” he said.
“Without these, Airbus believes that the impacts on our UK operations could be significant.
“We have sought to highlight our concerns over the past 12 months, without success. Far from Project Fear, this is a dawning reality for Airbus.
“Put simply, a no-deal scenario directly threatens Airbus’ future in the UK.”
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,” the spokeswoman said.
Downing Street denied that Ministers had ignored concerns raised by Airbus about the Brexit negotiations.
“Airbus were in Downing Street with the PM in April as part of an aerospace round table,” a No 10 spokeswoman said.
“(Business Secretary) Greg Clark spoke to them earlier this week and officials will speak to them today so we are listening to their concerns. There is an open dialogue there and we continue to talk to them.”
TWO YEARS ago today, Britain voted to leave the European Union, David Cameron resigned and Theresa May promised that Brexit would mean Brexit. Yet, while she remains Prime Minister for now, there’s little clarity, with just nine months to go, on how Britain will trade with the EU, and rest of the world, in the future.
Quite the contrary. As leading global manufacturers like Airbus threaten to move production abroad unless the Government sets out its intentions, Ministers are in survival mode. The latest is an obscure overseas visit being concocted so Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson can miss Monday’s key Commons vote on Heathrow Airport’s third runway.
In many respects, the antics of Mr Johnson, who once vowed to ‘lie down in front of bulldozers’ to stop Heathrow’s expansion, epitomise this Government’s approach. Instead the country is being led on a wing and a prayer because Mrs May does not know her mind and Ministers are unsure if she will survive for much longer.
And, far from being a lone critic, Airbus executive Tom Williams spoke for British industry and manufacturing when he issued his stark warning to the Government. “It is not our place to debate the rights and wrongs (of Brexit). Our concern is the lack of certainty about what the outcomes are going to be,” he said. “From a pragmatic point of view, if by the end of next March we are potentially going out with no deal, we have to continue running this business and manage the consequences.”
This matters. Airbus actually generates £1.7bn in tax revenues. It directly employs 14,000 people in Britain. And it supports 110,000 jobs in its UK supply chain. If the firm carries out its threat to leave, the British economy will nosedive. Yet, like farming and so many industries, manufacturing involves long-term planning – bosses can’t base their decisions on each bout of Government infighting – and millions of livelihoods are ultimately at stake.
With claims that Business Secretary Greg Clark, who hails from Middlesbrough, is urging firms like Airbus to go public because he’s so exasperated with the political process, Mrs May must now directly address the concerns of manufacturers before the economy is put at even greater risk. Time is not on her side.