Jaguar Land Rover boss says tens of thousands of jobs at risk if there is a no-deal Brexit
2 min read
Tens of thousands of jobs will be put at risk if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal, the boss of Jaguar Land Rover has warned.
Ralf Speth said he did not know whether the company,which employs 40,000 people in the UK, "will be able to function" the day after Brexit.
The chief executive also warned that any friction in trade between Britain and the EU could cost the firm £60m a day.
Mr Speth issued the warning at a conference in Birmingham also attended by Theresa May.
He said: "A thousand (jobs were) lost as a result of diesel policy and those numbers will be counted in the tens of thousands if we do not get the right Brexit deal.
"Currently I do not even know if any of our manufacturing facilities in the UK will be able to function on the 30th."
The car boss added: "It is thousands of pounds cheaper to produce vehicles for instance in eastern Europe than in Solihull and what decisions will I be forced to make if Brexit means not merely that costs go up but that we cannot physically build cars on time and on budget in the UK?
"Just one part missing could mean stopping production at a cost of £60m a day. That is a huge risk. We depend on free, frictionless, seamless logistics."
He said Jaguar Land Rover "urgently need greater certainty to continue to invest heavily in the UK and safeguard our suppliers, customers and 40,000 British-based employees".
"A bad Brexit deal would cost Jaguar Land Rover more than £1.2bn profit each year," he said. "As a result, we would have to drastically adjust our spending profile."
Labour MP Madeleine Moon, of the pro-EU Best for Britain group, said: "This is truly shocking news. The automotive industry has been warning of the dangers facing their sector for a while and now we're it looks like we're on the road to automotive disaster.
"Jobs have already gone in a number of car factories because of Brexit. Now we are facing the death of the jewel in the crown of UK manufacturing.
"When will this government finally admit to the damage they're causing and start to listen to groups like the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders who don't want British cars stagnating in the slow lane?"
But a spokesman for the Prime Minister insisted they were working to allway the car industry's concerns.
He said: "We are working on a deal which will be good for UK industry and we're confident that we're going to achieve that."
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