Ford has joined other vehicle manufacturers with extensive UK manufacturing operations to warn of the possibly adverse economic consequences that could follow if the UK chose to exit the EU’s trading bloc in the future.
Stephen Odell, head of Ford Europe, told a British daily newspaper that in the event of a future UK exit, Ford would have to re-evaluate its operations in Britain.
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“Clearly we wouldn’t be alone in doing that. Would it mean tariffs? Would it mean duties? We’d take a look at what it meant,” Odell told the Daily Telegraph newspaper. “I would strongly advise against leaving the EU for business purposes, and for employment purposes in the UK.”
Car market leader Ford no longer makes vehicles in the UK (Southampton’s Ford Transit plant the last to go), but it remains a major manufacturing base for engines.
Odell’s remarks follow similar warnings from Japanese vehicle manufacturers with major operations in the UK.
The UK’s prime minister David Cameron has said the he wants to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s EU membership prior to a referendum on EU membership if his Conservative Party forms the next government following elections due in 2015.
Mr Odell also told the newspaper that a majority of British people are in favour of leaving Europe because so much attention has focused on the onerous red tape that comes with EU membership, and not enough on the benefits.
“If they voted today, the common vote – unfortunately – would be to leave Europe,” he said.
