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Edwin Hayward🦄🏹🗡️
@uk_domain_names
, 17 tweets, 6 min read Read on Twitter
Ford is closing its Bridgend factory by September 2020, at a cost of 1,700 jobs. Allegedly not Brexit-related, but all the evidence points to that being a sop to avoid antagonising its customers unduly.
theguardian.com/business/2019/…
June 2019: "Should a no-deal Brexit happen, we will need to evaluate the environment with regards to tariffs & customs issues - we’re hoping that doesn’t happen. If the business environment changes significantly, we will have to review our business plan."
autocar.co.uk/car-news/indus…
April 2019: "Ford is spending tens of millions of euros preparing for a possible British exit from the European Union without a trade deal and has yet to decide on its longer-term plans for Britain, Ford Europe chairman Steven Armstrong said on Tuesday."
reuters.com/article/us-bri…
April 2019: Ford Chairman Steven Armstrong states that no-deal Brexit would be "a disaster for the automotive industry in the UK and within that, of course, I count Ford Motor Company.". Also indicated the company stood to lose $1 billion/year over Brexit.
inews.co.uk/news/brexit/no…
April 2019: Ford Europe Chairman Steven Armstrong says that in the event of a no-deal Brexit, Ford "will have to consider seriously the long-term future of our investments in the country."
voanews.com/a/ford-would-r…
March 2019: Ford warns of tariff dangers: "These tariffs would deal a devastating blow to much of the complex and integrated automotive industry, and would damage the competitiveness of Ford’s engine manufacturing in the U.K."
japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/03/1…
February 2019: Ford said it will do whatever it takes to protect its business against a no-deal Brexit. "We will take whatever action is necessary to preserve the competitiveness of our European business."
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
January 2019: Ford CFO Bob Shanks warns: "Ford continues to view a no-deal exit as the least likely outcome given how damaging it will be. Such a situation would be catastrophic for the UK industry and for Ford’s operations in the country."
europe.autonews.com/automakers/for…
November 2018: Ford backs Theresa May's Brexit deal, arguing that a "no deal" departure from the EU would be catastrophic.
thetimes.co.uk/article/may-s-…
October 2018: Ford Europe boss warns of the disasters of a no-deal Brexit. On WTO terms: "That would put a significant amount of cost in our business. It would certainly make us think long and hard about our future investment strategy."
bbc.co.uk/news/business-…
August 2018: Ford reports a near US$1 billion drop in profits from its European operations in its 2017 annual report, with US$600 million attributed directly to Brexit and the fall in the value of the pound since the referendum.
thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/art…
March 2018: Ford calls for clarity in post-Brexit trading conditions: "The sooner we have the clarity, the easier the [investment] decisions become to make, positive or negative, so that clarity is the important part of this"
businessinsider.com/r-ford-calls-f…
November 2017: Ford warns that Brexit may force it to leave the UK. "Ford doesn't want to exit the UK, but we might if the UK is not competitive, which is why we need a clear view of what the final agreement will be."
verdict.co.uk/ford-europe-br…
November 2016: Ford on Brexit plans: "We've been in the UK a long time and we’ve had lot of experience with sterling being strong and weak, so there are a lot of things we could do. The bottom line is we don’t know right now how this is going to play out"
am-online.com/news/car-manuf…
July 2016: FT reports: "Ford is considering closing plants in the UK and across Europe in response to Britain’s vote to leave the EU, as it forecast a $1bn hit to its business over the next two years."
ft.com/content/5f20ea…
June 2016: Ford UK wans workforce of downsides of Brexit. "Although the full consequences of [a Leave vote] are unknown, we estimate that the potential cost to our business could be hundreds of millions of dollars every year."
politicshome.com/news/europe/eu…
Follow all the breadcrumbs, and it's Brexit, Brexit, Brexit. No other conclusion possible. But as I said at the beginning, why would Ford deliberately antagonise its 52% (decreasing) of its customer base by rubbing their noses in it when the fateful decision's already been taken?
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More from @uk_domain_names see all

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Edwin Hayward🦄🏹🗡️
@uk_domain_names
Andrea Leadsom, 2006: "It occurs to me that the reason I haven't blogged much (actually not at all) since my selection for S Northamptonshire, is that I am so aware that everything I say and do is likely to be taken and used against me at a future time..."
web.archive.org/web/2016101723…
Andrea Leadsom, 2006 (on speech by CEO of Google): "He was basically saying that the ability of anyone - be it a government, company or private individual - to withhold information has gone. It's all out there, and available for anyone with the internet and a search engine."
And you know what, she's absolutely right! It would seem almost churlish to disappoint her, especially since she carefully deleted the blog she'd posted those on. You can access the whole of her now-deleted blog, covering 2006-2016, at the link below...
web.archive.org/web/2016101723…
Read 10 tweets
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Edwin Hayward🦄🏹🗡️
@uk_domain_names
Why did Michael Gove fail the Pepsi Challenge?
Because he always demanded Coke.
Why did it take Michael Gove so long to recite the Nato Alphabet?
Because he lingered on Charlie.
Why was Michael Gove such a good actor?
Because he always remembered his lines.
Read 3 tweets
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Edwin Hayward🦄🏹🗡️
@uk_domain_names
Real story of Peterborough by-election: the two main parties shed 27,566 votes between them since the 2017 GE. That's 58% of all votes they got in 2017. Some lost to apathy i.e. lower turnout, some to other parties.
In other words, Tories & Labour both lost the majority of their voters! Labour retained just 46% of their votes from 2017 & Tories just 32%. Incredible to think that 2-in-3 people who voted Tory in Peterborough in 2017 stayed home yesterday, or cast their votes for other parties.
That should be the focus of attention when considering yesterday's debacle. Labour's win and the Brexit Party falling at the last hurdle are the headline news, but this goes deeper. When you can't motivate half your base or more, you're in huge, huge trouble.
Read 3 tweets

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Dr Phillip Lee MP
@DrPhillipLeeMP
On #Brexit, these #EUelections2019 show that, if a political party stands in the middle of the road, it gets squashed. That‘s what I predicted when I resigned from Government last year. And it’s what has happened to @Conservatives and @UKLabour
So what next? If the purpose of government is to follow the will of the people (at any cost), the only politically viable Brexit is a hard one (WTO etc). But neither major political party will get a Westminster majority by delivering Hard Brexit without explicit public consent
And forget any soft Brexit. It’s not politically viable (for the record, I’ve always held that it’s the worst of both worlds) and anyone thinking we get further concessions from the @EU_Commission by playing hardball is living in cuckoo land. The WA is it, take it or leave it
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Lords EU Committee
@LordsEUCom
In our latest report on #Brexit-related treaties we draw the UK-Swiss Trade Agreement to the special attention of @UKHouseOfLords, not only because it’s important, but because it differs significantly from current EU-Swiss arrangements. 1/5 🇬🇧🇨🇭
Switzerland is the UK’s 10th-largest trading partner. This Agreement mostly supports trade in goods, but the majority of trade with Switzerland is in services. We ask the Government to clarify its plans for overall UK-Swiss services trade. 2/5
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Lord Snoutintrough #FBPE
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A constant refrain from my fellow remainers is name be a #Brexit benefit many devote immense energy writing detailed explanations of trade tarrifs or how the EU works. I am grateful to them as I have learned a lot from them yet we all wonder why it makes so little difference
It seems to me that a better question to leavers is what are you getting out of #Brexit why do you support it in the face of so much evidence that its a terrible idea and I would like to suggest the answer lies in the realms of feeling
We have all seen that #Brexit licenses all kinds of opinions that 1l0 years ago would have been unacceptable but more than that it licences BEHAVIOURS that usually are unacceptable and thus gives many adherents a immense pleasure
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tony nog #FBPE
@tony_nog
1) if you believe that #Brexit will be damaging, you *cannot* argue that #PeoplesVote or #RevokeA50 will be "damaging"

These figures don't tell the whole story, it's a lot worse
Perhaps half of the 46% hate "no deal"
& half hate May's deal

They can't all be happy after Brexit
2) at best even today either Brexit on offer will only please 30% of the country, the rest will feel let down or betrayed by politicians.

And when #Brexit actually bites those against it will easily top 65%

3) Its simply not democratic to push something few will like and most will hate, especially when people have been lied to concerning "cost free/jobs first #Brexit"

Meanwhile charlatans like Mogg & Corbyn will play the line - ahh, but *our* Brexit would have been better
Read 5 tweets
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Jon Worth
@jonworth
Before this week's #Brexit shenanigans, I said this:

"With May as Prime Minister there can be no Brexit deal"

I stand by that statement

I see no way that the #EUCO - ongoing as I write this thread - can give May anything that'll appease the Brexit hard liners in her party

🇪🇺 is not going to make the backstop time limited or allow 🇬🇧 to unilaterally withdraw it. So the deal on the table is essentially unchanged
The Tories reaching across the political divide to Labour still looks like a ridiculously long shot as well:
theguardian.com/politics/2018/…
Read 16 tweets
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Chuka Umunna
@ChukaUmunna
THREAD: Today's events in Westminster - which relate to the process and not the substance of Brexit - do not change the fundamental mess and chaos of Brexit. The UK is heading for a bad Brexit deal but its not a done deal - a lot will happen between now and the Autumn. /1
Its disappointing the so called "Grieve 2" amendment did not pass this afternoon (I,of course, voted for it) but significant that Ministers were forced to climb down and issue a statement acknowledging Parliament's vital role at the end of the process. /2
There are still 5 #Brexit related Bills still to make their way through Parliament which are legally binding and amendable: Customs Bill; Trade Bill; Fisheries Bill; Agriculture Bill; and, Immigration Bill. There will also be a huge number of statutory instruments to pass too. /3
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