The sunny uplands hove into view...

[petaljam]

Tesla cites Brexit as Germany chosen over UK for European plant

The Tesla model 3 was the third best-selling car in the UK this summer.

I just thought it would be interesting to keep a tally of business decisions etc - both positive and negative - that are linked (preferably explicitly) to Brexit. So what other events have there been recently or are upcoming?

 

[CatullusV]

Tesla cites Brexit as Germany chosen over UK for European plant

The Tesla model 3 was the third best-selling car in the UK this summer.

I just thought it would be interesting to keep a tally of business decisions etc - both positive and negative - that are linked (preferably explicitly) to Brexit. So what other events have there been recently or are upcoming?

There is a difficulty in attributing decisions directly to Brexit as many of these companies will want to trade in the UK. That means that they don't want to potentially alienate that market by removing jobs and using a democratic vote as the basis for the losses.

I know directly of some significant job losses where the companies involved found other reasons for them.

I myself lost a very lucrative gig over Brexit. The official reason given was the ongoing low interest rates, but the franker senior bosses were quite open that Brexit was at the root of it.

 

[petaljam]

That's why I was actually a bit surprised to see it stated so explicitly. I'd expect bosses to be reluctant to be too upfront about something so polarising in the UK and that won't gain them any particular plaudits in Germany to counterbalance the hostility from within the UK.

 

[CatullusV]

That's why I was actually a bit surprised to see it stated so explicitly. I'd expect bosses to be reluctant to be too upfront about something so polarising in the UK and that won't gain them any particular plaudits in Germany to counterbalance the hostility from within the UK.

My reaction was identical to yours. I was surprised too.

One of the problems with assessing the impacts is that it isn't just the big names feeling the heat. The small places are also being hit. I've written elsewhere about my wife and myself having to find suppliers within the EU to replace a couple of UK suppliers. In at least one supplier that resulted in the loss of at least one job. From speaking to other people at SME conferences we are hearing similar stories. It doesn't make the headlines, though.

 

[truthisfree]

That's why I was actually a bit surprised to see it stated so explicitly. I'd expect bosses to be reluctant to be too upfront about something so polarising in the UK and that won't gain them any particular plaudits in Germany to counterbalance the hostility from within the UK.

Elon Musk is quite a different type of boss, does not surprise me at all that he would state Brexit as a reason not to set up in UK at all, on things like this Musk tells it how he sees it.

 

[recedite]

The correct way to look at this is "free trade" versus "not free trade". After that, you have to decide whether Brexit means free trade or not. If Boris gets re-elected in the next few weeks and pushes his deal through parliament, there will be free trade with EU guaranteed for the next few years (due to the transition period). There will also be a Brexit.

Take the Japanese car manufacturers. The EU has signed a free trade deal with Japan, but not with the UK. In that context it could make sense for the Japanese to take their assembly lines back to Japan. Not only from the UK, but also from the EU. Nissan's entanglement with Renault has not always been seen as a huge success. From now on, they could export the finished cars from Japan straight into the EU market. If a Japanese plant announces plans to leave the UK and return to Japan, that tends to be blamed in a simplistic way on Brexit, but the situation is more nuanced than that.

 

[amsterdemmetje]

I visited a site a few weeks ago where we provide security for a massive warehouse storing new Jet engines originally stored in the UK for an American company .They moved them here solely because of Brexit and EU licensing aviation laws is what i was told.

 

[CatullusV]

The correct way to look at this is "free trade" versus "not free trade". After that, you have to decide whether Brexit means free trade or not. If Boris gets re-elected in the next few weeks and pushes his deal through parliament, there will be free trade with EU guaranteed for the next few years (due to the transition period). There will also be a Brexit.

Take the Japanese car manufacturers. The EU has signed a free trade deal with Japan, but not with the UK. In that context it could make sense for the Japanese to take their assembly lines back to Japan. Not only from the UK, but also from the EU. Nissan's entanglement with Renault has not always been seen as a huge success. From now on, they could export the finished cars from Japan straight into the EU market. If a Japanese plant announces plans to leave the UK and return to Japan, that tends to be blamed in a simplistic way on Brexit, but the situation is more nuanced than that.

Trade agreements aren't a free for all. There are quotas on items which can be produced domestically. In any event there are massive savings to be made by manufacturing locally, and the manufacturing principles of JIT and LEAP are utterly reliant on very tight supply chains and rigid schedules.

 

[Baron von Biffo]

<Pedant>Hove heaves</Pedant>

 

[Lumpy Talbot]

j'member when all the banks were leaving

 

[petaljam]

<Pedant>Hove heaves</Pedant>

Tragically I have to admit that I actually hesitated about this, but finally wrestled my own inner pedant to the ground and refused to look it up!

(TBH I only know the word from PG Wodehouse, so I didn't know if it was the past tense of heave or not. How can a person - or a landscape - heave into view anyway?
Oh and sunny uplands is plural, so even if it is a present tense it still sort of works. )

 

[Baron von Biffo]

Tragically I have to admit that I actually hesitated about this, but finally wrestled my own inner pedant to the ground and refused to look it up!

(TBH I only know the word from PG Wodehouse, so I didn't know if it was the past tense of heave or not. How can a person - or a landscape - heave into view anyway?
Oh and sunny uplands is plural, so even if it is a present tense it still sort of works. )

Well I've just proved the internet rule that any post which seeks to correct an error of spelling or grammar, will itself contain an error of spelling or grammar.

'Heave' it is.

 

[CatullusV]

j'member when all the banks were leaving

Quite a lot have done so already.

 

[Lumpy Talbot]

What? Which ones?

 

[Pyewacket]

Well are we all convinced the UK will exit and without a Deal?

My, my. They have made a really good job of it so far?

 

[Lumpy Talbot]

There's a massive JP Morgan backoffice unit in Edinburgh, I know that, as I was admiring the size of the place last week as I went past on the tram service to the airport.

None of the top six investment banks have moved. Investment banks and asset management businesses site their back office functions away from London as there is no point paying top whack central London commercial rents to house the goons and the low level clerks.

I can think of a few back office bank and asset management businesses sited in Dublin simply because they are cheaper than London square footage but then that's why they send the back offices out to what they regard as the sticks. No one wants some rainbow haired goon in a cheap Chinese shirt in the lift with them at Canary Wharf or in the square mile

 

[Pyewacket]

Well anyone on here want to predict the results of the UK election?

Go on go on, go on.

 

[Lumpy Talbot]

No. Bloody. Way.

 

[Pyewacket]

No. Bloody. Way.

Well that is a start.

 

[CatullusV]

There's a massive JP Morgan backoffice unit in Edinburgh, I know that, as I was admiring the size of the place last week as I went past on the tram service to the airport.

None of the top six investment banks have moved. Investment banks and asset management businesses site their back office functions away from London as there is no point paying top whack central London commercial rents to house the goons and the low level clerks.

I can think of a few back office bank and asset management businesses sited in Dublin simply because they are cheaper than London square footage but then that's why they send the back offices out to what they regard as the sticks. No one wants some rainbow haired goon in a cheap Chinese shirt in the lift with them at Canary Wharf or in the square mile

It is sort of the business I was in. Lots of csd's have been moved out of the UK.