Airbus preparing to move business out of the UK due to Brexit fears according to a report in The Times

News and Info from Deeside, Flintshire, North Wales

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Jun 21st, 2018

Airbus is set to become the first big manufacturer to pull investment from Britain according to a front-page splash in The Times on Friday.

The story by the papers Policial Editor Francis Elliot and Industrial Editor Robert Lee claims Airbus has lost patience with Theresa May’s stalled Brexit negotiations.

The report goes on to say Airbus is “preparing to abandon plans to build aircraft wings at its British plants and move production to China the US or elsewhere in Europe.”

Airbus the paper claims is making a series of investment decisions this summer “because of worries that EU safety certifications will not apply from March next year and uncertainty over customs checks.”

“In the absence of any clarity, we have to assume the worst-case scenario,” Tom Williams, the chief operating officer of Airbus, told The Times.

“It is the dawning realisation that we now have to get on with it.”

The company, employs 14000 in the UK, around 6000 at Broughton – it supports a further 110,000 jobs in its supply chain in the UK.

The article says the company has “started stockpiling components in the event of a hard Brexit.“

According to an Airbus internal risk assessment The Times says – Airbus will “reconsider its footprint in the country, its investments in the UK and its dependency on the UK” if Britain crashed out of the EU without a deal, according to an internal risk assessment. “This extremely negative outcome for Airbus would be catastrophic:* it states.

The paper also says the warning from Airbus were delivered privately to the prime minister three weeks ago.