Jaguar Land Rover chief warns over ‘horrifying’ no-deal Brexit

Jaguar Land Rover chief warns that a bad Brexit deal will cost the firm £1.2bn a year and put tens of thousands of jobs at risk

• Jaguar Land Rover chief warns of ‘horrifying’ consequences of a no-deal Brexit
• Ralph Speth said it would wipe out the firm’s profits and cost thousands of jobs
• The chances of negotiations with EU failing appear to have been increasing 

Professor Ralf Speth described the prospect of a cliff-edge break with the EU as ‘horrifying’ (file picture)

The boss of Jaguar Land Rover today warned that ‘hard Brexit’ will wipe out his company’s profits and cost tens of thousands of jobs.

In a stark message intended to up the pressure on Theresa May, Professor Ralf Speth described the prospect of a cliff-edge break with the EU as ‘horrifying’.

He said that if the ‘wrong decisions’ were taken in the negotiations with Brussels, it could result in the ‘worst of times’ for the UK while the cost to Jaguar Land Rover would be more than £1.2billion a year.

The intervention, at the UK’s first Zero Emission Vehicle Summit in Birmingham, is the latest in a string of warnings from worried manufacturing firms, including Airbus and BMW.

Dr Speth told delegates: ‘If we make the right decisions this could be the best of times. If we make the wrong ones, they could be the worst of times.

‘We are absolutely firmly committed to the UK, it’s our home. But a hard Brexit will cost Jaguar Land Rover more than £1.2 billion a year – it’s horrifying, wiping our profit, destroying investment in the autonomous, zero-emissions, we want to share.’

He added that the loss of jobs would be ‘counted into tens of thousands if we do not get the right Brexit deal’.

The prospects of negotiations failing appear to have been rising amid a standoff with the EU over the Irish border and trade terms.

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Mrs May has been holding to her mantra that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’, while the government has stepped up preparations to cope with the fallout.

The dire prediction from Dr Speth contrasts sharply with claims from Brexiteers that the UK would thrive under a ‘no deal’ scenario.

Speaking shortly after the car chief, Mrs May pledged a £106million funding boost for research and development in zero-emissions vehicles. 

The Prime Minister said it was her ambition to make Britain a leader in the green technology field, while making traffic pollution ‘a thing of the past’.

She said it was part of the Government’s drive to build ‘a global, outward-facing country outside of the European Union’ while investing in Britain for the long term.

Mrs May (pictured giving a speech in Birmingham today) has been holding to her mantra that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’, while the government has stepped up preparations to cope with the fallout

‘I want to see Britain, once again, leading from the front and working with industries and countries around the world to spearhead change,’ she said.

‘That is why I have set this country an ambitious mission. To put the UK at the forefront of the design and manufacturing of zero-emission vehicles and for all new cars and vans to be effectively zero emission by 2040.

‘We have long lived with the idea that traffic is polluting. We know that no longer needs to be true. And we are on the brink of making it a thing of the past.’

Mrs May also used the event to hold roundtable talks on driving more foreign direct investment into the UK.

She was also having discussions with leading supply-chain companies from Germany, the USA, Japan, China, Spain and India.

 

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