Yahoo Finance UK government has 'no clue' on Brexit, says Airbus boss
Theresa May’s government has “no clue” on how to negotiate Brexit without inflicting “severe harm”, a top business executive said on Friday.
Tom Enders, the chief executive of European plane maker Airbus, was reported as saying: “The sun is shining brightly on the UK, the English team is progressing towards the final, the RAF is preparing to celebrate its centenary and [Her Majesty’s government] still has no clue, no consensus on how to execute Brexit without severe harm.”
He made his remarks as the prime minister was preparing to meet her deeply-divided cabinet to try to hammer out consensus on the terms of the UK’s departure from the EU.
Last month Airbus had outlined the “urgent risks” its business faces if the UK leaves the EU next March without an agreement with the remaining members of the trading bloc and immediately left the single market and customs union.
If the plane marker pulls out of the UK it could put more than 100,000 jobs at risk. It employs 14,000 in 25 sites across the UK and supports more than 110,000 jobs in the supply chain.
Enders’ intervention came 24 hours after the head of Jaguar Land Rover, the UK’s biggest car maker, warned that a “bad” Brexit would hit its profits by £1.2bn a year and put £80bn of investment planned for the next five years in the UK at risk.
Ralf Speth, the head of the Indian-owned car marker, had said: “If the UK automotive industry is to remain globally competitive and protect 300,000 jobs in Jaguar Land Rover and our supply chain, we must retain tariff and customs-free access to trade and talent with no change to current EU regulations.”
Business leaders are speaking out as May’s cabinet meets in the prime minister’s country retreat, Chequers, to try to iron out the splits between the Brexiteers and the Remainers over how to clinch trade deals after Brexit.
Until ministers agree a plan, the UK cannot attempt to reach a deal with the EU over the terms of trade with the bloc after Brexit at the end of March 2019.
Business leaders such as Enders want a deal that allows “frictionless” trade to take place, without goods getting held up in customs checks at borders and paying hefty tariffs on imports and exports. But this does not match the ambitions of MPs who want a clean break from the EU.
