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Leave-supporting Llanelli left reeling as manufacturing industry moves out due to Brexit

Wales shouldn’t have voted for brexit.

You reap what you sow...

This is just a fact of brexit.

the harder forms of brexit - will impact manufacturing. Manufacturing is generally where it is because cheap labour is a requirement for manufacturing. So some forms of brexit will disproportionally impact poor areas.

People there just have to hope that loss of manufacturing jobs is compensated by wage increases from Eastern European’s going home ( and they aren’t replaced by whoever we end up doing trade deals with eg Indians ).

And in the ERGs vision of brexit, wages aren’t going to rise.

Alex
 
This is just a fact of brexit.

the harder forms of brexit - will impact manufacturing. Manufacturing is generally where it is because cheap labour is a requirement for manufacturing. So some forms of brexit will disproportionally impact poor areas.

People there just have to hope that loss of manufacturing jobs is compensated by wage increases from Eastern European’s going home ( and they aren’t replaced by whoever we end up doing trade deals with eg Indians ).

And in the ERGs vision of brexit, wages aren’t going to rise.

Alex
= = =

Capital does what Alex?
 
I'll regret it, but suppose for a moment it could be definitively shown that it wasn't a product of Brexit and it was baked in regardless. I don't know, they leak some damning 2015 analysis that says let's shut this factory and move it to Lithuania.

What's your narrative for the people of Llanelli?
 
I'll regret it, but suppose for a moment it could be definitively shown that it wasn't a product of Brexit and it was baked in regardless. I don't know, they leak some damning 2015 analysis that says let's shut this factory and move it to Lithuania.

What's your narrative for the people of Llanelli?

Factories have been moving to Eastern Europe for decades.
 
I'll regret it, but suppose for a moment it could be definitively shown that it wasn't a product of Brexit and it was baked in regardless. I don't know, they leak some damning 2015 analysis that says let's shut this factory and move it to Lithuania.

What's your narrative for the people of Llanelli?
Take back control, arm yourself and rise up against the masters?
 
Well, it bought a company three times its size ten years ago. And now it’s “reducing its footprint”. So that sounds like there’s more to this than “uncertainty over Brexit”.
 
Factories have been moving to Eastern Europe for decades.

That has often been companies moving sites from one EU state to another primarily because of cheaper costs.

Brexit is going to cause a slightly different type of move, it'll be from a non EU site to a EU site. This opens up a lot of companies that have been historically happy to manufacture in the UK to leaving. Financially it tips the balance to make manufacturing goods in the UK nonsensical if they are sold throughout Europe.
 
The pound is at record lows against the Euro and way down against the dollar too...on that measure i'd expect costs to have come down a fair bit in recent years for US and European based businesses operating in the UK. If brexit happens the pound is predicted to fall further too, making it cheaper still
*Kind of true for the yen too
 
People there just have to hope that loss of manufacturing jobs is compensated by wage increases from Eastern European’s going home ( and they aren’t replaced by whoever we end up doing trade deals with eg Indians ).


Alex

The East Europeans I know have every intention of staying here. They still have uncertainty about post Brexit status. But will try to stay.

Polish friend of mine is doing the citizenship course in case promises of right to stay here does not work out. She told me the book about Britishness she had to study said this was a tolerant country. :facepalm:

My partner is from another EU country and is going to her embassy soon to get advice.

Its not great situation to be in.
 
To be fair to Llanelli voters, they weren't choosing to do themselves out of a job, whichever way they voted - it might seem a little absurd now, but the Leave side did make the case that Brexit would actually boost manufacturing for export because of all the excellent trade deals Britain would be able to negotiate.

They were hoodwinked. Maybe they should have a second vote for Deal or no Deal.
 
To be fair to Llanelli voters, they weren't choosing to do themselves out of a job, whichever way they voted - it might seem a little absurd now, but the Leave side did make the case that Brexit would actually boost manufacturing for export because of all the excellent trade deals Britain would be able to negotiate.
I thought the main argument was that EU-UK trade would not be hit because prosecco. Then the intellectual backbone of the operation piped up to say that UK manufacturing would in fact be wiped out, but that it would be fine as people could just retrain in the services industries:

Vote Leave economist admits Brexit would 'mostly eliminate manufacturing'

Guessing that discourse wouldn't go down too well in Llanelli right now...
 
To be fair to Llanelli voters, they weren't choosing to do themselves out of a job, whichever way they voted - it might seem a little absurd now, but the Leave side did make the case that Brexit would actually boost manufacturing for export because of all the excellent trade deals Britain would be able to negotiate.

They weren't to know that Liam Fox would be the one charged with delivering these trade deals and that failure was, therefore, inevitable.
 
The East Europeans I know have every intention of staying here. They still have uncertainty about post Brexit status. But will try to stay.

Polish friend of mine is doing the citizenship course in case promises of right to stay here does not work out. She told me the book about Britishness she had to study said this was a tolerant country. :facepalm:

My partner is from another EU country and is going to her embassy soon to get advice.

Its not great situation to be in.

As for anecdotal evidencence to counter that, I‘d sold my London flat within months of the referendum and moved back to Germany after 33 years in the UK. I know other people who’ve fled Brexit here in Berlin. I have other non-British friends in the UK who left, most notably a Portuguese friend who experienced an increased level of xenophobic abuse. If other things have been pissing you off about the UK (in my case the rising unaffordability of and poor quality of life in London, austerity, the UK rip-off known as a leasehold) you may be more likely to leave, but Brexit was the final straw.
 
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It's sad they believed all the toss being spouted about brexit,swallowed it down and made a decision to back an idea that would diminish their local economy further. That's what the leave campaign banked on happening and it did. If I lived there I'd be pushing for a second referendum to change things. They were conned.
 
Sigh. I’m going to regret this but a) how would a soft Brexit or remaining within the EU counter this and b) could you point to evidence to illustrate your point.
Can you explain why there are any automotive-related manufacturing sites in the UK (12% of UK exports), and, prior to the Brexit vote at least, continued growth in the sector rather than steady migration elsewhere?

Can you then explain how being outside the EU would be beneficial to this?
 
It's sad they believed all the toss being spouted about brexit,swallowed it down and made a decision to back an idea that would diminish their local economy further. That's what the leave campaign banked on happening and it did. If I lived there I'd be pushing for a second referendum to change things. They were conned.

They didn’t believe it, they were not conned. They were sick of the current situation and wanted change, any change. What about that is so hard for you to understand?
 
Can you explain why there are any automotive-related manufacturing sites in the UK (12% of UK exports), and, prior to the Brexit vote at least, continued growth in the sector rather than steady migration elsewhere?

Can you then explain how being outside the EU would be beneficial to this?
JLR have had a steady rise in sales over the last decade. Europe accounts for less than a 5th of those sales.

2018 figures will be interestiing seeing as the arse has fallen out of the european diesel market, entirely due to the cheating practices of certain german manufacturers... hence, more likely, the loss of jobs in Llanelli (and not specifically due to brexit).

The one big thing the diesel scandal has exposed is the extent of the political influence the german automotive lobby has over the german government. Added that the german government wields unprecedented power over the Eu, it shouldn't be a surprise that Schaeffler has politicised this rational business decision to deflect other issues it has.
 
Sigh. I’m going to regret this but a) how would a soft Brexit or remaining within the EU counter this and b) could you point to evidence to illustrate your point.

Do I really have to provide evidence to show that if you make it harder to sell to your customers - paperwork, tariffs etc. It might be easier to move “closer” to your customers than keep doing the paperwork ?
 
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