SMMT issues final Brexit plea

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has made a last call for Brexit negotiators on both sides to get a deal in place by Christmas that avoids tariffs, or risk damaging one of Europe’s most valuable manufacturing industries.

The entire European sector, including the UK, has already lost €100bn (£87.8bn) to the pandemic and has repeatedly called on EU and UK leaders to ensure the sector will not face further damage from the imposition of tariffs from 1 January 2021, which would deliver another €110bn blow to manufacturers on both sides of the Channel.

For the UK industry alone, new figures reveal that production losses could cost as much as £55.4bn over the next five years if the sector was forced to trade on WTO conditions long-term.

Even with a so-called ‘bare-bones’ trade deal agreed, the cost to industry would be some £14.1bn.

Addressing an audience of industry executives, politicians and global media at SMMT 2020 Update Live, SMMT president and executive chairman HORIBA MIRA Dr George Gillespie OBE, said: “We need a future trading relationship that works for automotive. We’ve already spent nigh on a billion pounds preparing for the unknown of Brexit and lost twenty-eight times that to Covid. Let us not also be left counting the cost of tariffs, especially not by accident.

“Industry can deliver the jobs growth we need and help rebuild a devasted economy, but government must work with us to create the environment for this success. That starts with a favourable Brexit deal and a bold strategy to help transform automotive production in the UK, attract new investment, upskill our workforce and build world-leading battery capability to future-proof our manufacturing. When Covid lifts, we need to be ready; ready to support government to engineer an economic – and green – recovery.”

As well as affecting livelihoods in all regions of the country, ‘no deal’ would have a severe impact on the sector’s ability to develop and manufacture the next generation of zero emission cars and vans, as well as holding back market uptake of these vehicles at a critical time with a new ICE end of sale date just nine years away.

SMMT chief executive, Mike Hawes, said: “The government’s plan for a green industrial revolution is an immense challenge – for automotive, the energy sector, consumers and for government itself. We are already on the way, transforming an industry built on the combustion engine to one built on electrification. But to complete the job in under a decade is no easy task. And with showrooms closed, choking factories of orders, the ability of the sector to invest further is severely constrained. Automotive is nothing if not determined, adaptable and resilient, yet, as the clock ticks ever closer to midnight on Brexit negotiations, the competitiveness and employment we need get back to growth – green growth – hangs in the balance.”