Titans of UK business warn Brexit could spell doom for the manufacturing industry
British manufacturing supports 2.6million jobs in the UK but in a stark warning industry leaders say the 'Made in Britain' tag could be doomed
TWO titans of British manufacturing today warn Brexit could spell an end to the famous "Made in Britain" tag.
Writing in The Sun today, the heads of Airbus and Siemens in the UK, Paul Kahn and Jeurgen Maier, say a vote to leave the EU on June 23 would “badly weaken” the key industry that supports 2.6 million jobs here.
Years of doubt as politicians argue over a new deal for the country will have a “drip, drip, drip effect” on lost investment into manufacturing firms like theirs.
The company chiefs – who employ 30,000 British workers between them – say that would leave us having to rely on bankers and financiers for our exports:
THE UK was the birthplace of the industrial revolution and the tag ‘Made in Britain’ still means something today.
However, people campaigning to leave the EU do not seem to care about making things here and the millions of jobs that rely on it.
There are 2.6 million people working in manufacturing in this country. We have many world class companies, making fantastic products.
Airbus assembles wings for the giant A380 airliner at a factory in Broughton, North Wales, and later this year Siemens will open a new site in Hull to manufacture offshore wind turbine blades.
These are about the same length as the wingspan of those jet planes and will power millions of homes across the UK.
If Britain left the EU, manufacturing would not instantly disappear, but it would be badly weakened.
We don’t know what trade deal we would get with the EU afterwards or how long it would take to negotiate, and the longer discussions go on, the more that companies will put off or even cancel British investment plans.
This will not happen in one to two years but the drip, drip, drip effect of lost investment would begin to affect not only today’s manufacturing jobs and livelihoods, but also those of our children, and children’s children.
What’s more, some ‘Leave’ campaigners seem happy to sacrifice British manufacturing altogether.
Does Michael Gove really want to walk away from the largest free-trade single market in the world, as he appeared to suggest recently? Another suggestion is that after Brexit, we should allow countries to import to the UK without paying tariffs, while our companies would still have to pay to export overseas.
We don’t mind fair competition, but Professor Patrick Minford, one of the economists that favour this approach, has admitted in the Sun that it would ‘eliminate manufacturing’.
His argument is this would not matter because we could rely on the service sector instead. But do we really want to create a British economy that just relies on bankers and the financial sector?
We’re not saying the EU is perfect, but it is important for British manufacturing companies as it allows us to sell our products in Europe, without having to pay tariffs.
This helps keep our goods competitive and makes people in Europe more likely to buy British.
Some people say that it is only big companies that care about Brexit and that it will be good for smaller British businesses.
This isn’t true, Brexit will negatively affect all the companies that supply and support big companies like Airbus and Siemens, and this will be bad for local communities.
We want manufacturers to create more jobs and opportunities in this country, not go elsewhere, as Brexit would encourage.
There are exciting things happening in manufacturing technology in areas like robotics and driverless cars.
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Airbus and Siemens have recently agreed a long-term deal to develop hybrid electric engines for aircraft of the future.
The UK is well placed to become leaders in all these fields and the EU helps by providing money for research and giving UK companies a say in how industry standards are set.
Ultimately this is about the kind of economy and jobs we want for future generations. Do we want to help develop these new technologies in Britain, or give up and risk missing out on jobs and opportunities?
And at the same time, anyone who tells you that we have to decide between manufacturing or the service industry is wrong. We need both.
EU membership is good for British manufacturing and it will help to ensure that future generations of Brits continue to make things that the world wants to buy.