Cairns hoping to reassure defence giant over Brexit
WELSH Secretary Alun Cairns will attempt to reassure Airbus executives today about the Government’s commitment to providing “certainty and stability” to businesses as the UK prepares to exit the European Union.
Airbus has repeatedly warned that a hard Brexit could mean the loss of jobs at its UK operations as it might be forced to locate future production elsewhere.
The European defence giant is worried about the effect that restrictions on movement might have on its cross-national workforce, as well as added costs through new tariff and non-tariff barriers.
During his visit to the plane maker’s plant at Broughton, Mr Cairns will see new-generation composite wings being built for Airbus customers including Qatar Airways.
Mr Cairns said: “Wales is bursting with innovative and worldclass companies that are boosting our economy, creating jobs and changing lives across the country. But now is the time to raise the bar and show the world just what Wales has to offer.
“Airbus is a great example of a company doing just that – a company with local headquarters yet with an internationally-renowned reputation, putting Wales on the map right across the globe.
“As Britain prepares to exit the EU, we now have the opportunity to shape our own ambitious trade and investment opportunities in Europe and beyond, and put Wales and Britain firmly at the forefront of global trade and investment.”
The Airbus plant in Broughton is responsible for assembling the wings for all of the company’s civil aircraft.
It produces more than 1,000 wings a year and employs around 6,000 people, primarily in manufacturing, but also in engineering and support functions such as procurement and finance.
While in Broughton, Mr Cairns will also be visiting defence giant Raytheon, executives from which he met with at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair in London last week.
Mr Cairns is using his visit to north Wales to drum up interest in exporting among Welsh businesses. It comes after the Welsh Secretary announced that he is writing to 26,000 Welsh businesses that have been identified as potential exporters and sending them a copy of a dedicated exporting guide for Welsh businesses.
The Wales Export Guide sets out the full range of support available to Welsh businesses from the UK Government and contains “inspiring stories” of companies based in Wales that are successfully exporting.
Mr Cairns hopes businesses will recognise the huge potential available to help them invest and grow.
Last year 4,000 Welsh companies took their first forays into the global market at a value of £12.4bn. Across the UK, exports contribute over £570bn to GDP annually.
Mr Cairns added: “Our mission is to become the world’s greatest exporting nation, boosting business confidence and national pride, and empowering more Welsh companies to go out and succeed in global markets.
“That is why we are sharing the advice, guidance and support available from the UK Government, in particular from the Department for International Trade, for businesses in our Wales Export Guide. We want to help them to build their brand abroad as we continue to increase UK exports and encourage inward investment.”