Sell-off of UK firms back to haunt us

DEAR Editor, Nissan has stated that the X-Trail SUV is now not going to be built in Sunderland after first giving assurances that it was and they say this is due in part to the uncertainty of Brexit. Let us look at why the Japanese car makers came to Britain in the first place.

They came because Britain was to become the ‘aircraft carrier’ by which the Japanese could launch their cars ‘tariff free’ into Europe, and Britain welcomed them.

On February 1, 2019, the EU and Japan’s Economic Partnership agreement came into force and this is the world’s largest free trade deal. The Japanese, after ten years of negotiation with the EU, have signed this deal because they want to sell their cars in Europe. They did not sign it to give British people jobs.

Now the Japanese can give high-quality manufacturing jobs to their own people in Japan, will not need to pay tax in this country on their profits and can now make cars in the most productive car manufacturing plants in the world and then ship their cars to Europe, and why wouldn’t they?

As the full force of this agreement takes place over the next five years you can expect the other Japanese car manufacturers to follow suit and relocate in their home country.

This was going to happen whether Britain was in the EU or not. As soon as this trade