Thread by @MattWGriffith

The news on Honda is devastating - a major employer and contributor to Swindon.

With any decision like this, multiple factors at play.

One of them is Brexit, as presentation slide Honda gave to MPs in 2017 shows. Honda been saying these messages to MPs & government for 2 years

Trump thrown additional level of uncertainty into Honda planning.

Honda Swindon exports approx 40% of its cars to the US. The threat of tariffs of between 10-25% on Civic would make it completely uncompetitive in US market.

Another big strategic headache for Honda Japan

The complete lack of clarity from UK government on future of EU Free Trade Agreements - vital if Honda could rebalance from US risk.

Honda given v little clarity on what happening - will they even exist for UK in April 2019? - and rules of origin tied to these.

So Honda UK faced massive uncertainty in 3 critical markets: EU, US and via EU FTAs. All meant high levels uncertainty from now until 2021 at least.

EU - Japan deal in contrast legally signed and implementation started.

Big picture trade position created by Brexit mattered

What is noticeable is how few of Honda's Brexit asks of UK government, often made in 2016 and 2017, the government had provided concrete answers to by today, 18th Feb 2019.

Look at the attached 2017 list.

Made it much harder for Honda UK to make the case to Honda Japan