Scaremongering car corporation Ford warns UK against EU withdrawal

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/e...y-left-EU.html

Ford warns it would reassess UK presence if country left EU

Car giant Ford has told the UK it would be “cutting its nose off to spite its face” by exiting the EU

Ford, one of the UK’s leading foreign investors, has called for the country to remain in the European Union, warning that it would reassess all its plans if Britain left.

Steve Odell, chief executive of the car manufacturer’s operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, told The Telegraph the UK would be “cutting its nose off to spite its face” by exiting the EU. He claimed it would be calamitous for British jobs and business.

The British-born executive criticised the amount of red tape imposed by Europe, claiming it was particularly onerous to the UK, but added that Britain would still have to comply with Brussels legislation if it were outside the EU. Instead, the Government should negotiate from within.

“It cannot make any sense [to leave the EU],” he said. “Yes, there are absolutely some rules and regulations, in the minutiae, that are difficult to take, particularly if you’re from Britain, which was, after all, this island state for years … but I don’t think that’s a reason to turn your back on your largest trading partner.

Wow, sounds like a really serious implication if we left the EU that Ford could leave the UK and 15,000 jobs would be lost - doesn't it? Except..........

Roger Helmer ‏@RogerHelmerMEP Jan 15

Ford: "It can't make sense to leave the EU": http://******/f2gaL7 . So why did they move their van operations to Turkey?

...and..

The UK is Fords biggest market in Europe, they sell more cars here than in any other EU country.
Ford closed their last vehicle assemble plant at Southampton after being given an EU grant of €450million to close the UK facility and move production to Turkey!!

Not one Ford car or van is made in the UK, yet we are their biggest most important market.

Now tell me what right Ford has to even comment about Britain sovereign decisions?

In other words, Ford are telling us that by leaving the EU we risk them moving to a EU country to continue production....... despite the fact they've just moved from an EU country to a non-EU country for production.

Nissan also issued a similar warning which I debunked in 2013 on this forum by pointing out how Nissan had warned, back in 2000, that if Britain didn't join the Euro then it risked being 'sidelined' and that Nissan would seriously have to consider moving production to the continent. And guess what? It was total ********.

Corporations love the EU for one thing and one thing only: lobbying the EU to make horrendous amounts of legislation which help drown out any competition for them. After all think about it: it's much easier to lobby and bribe one parliament that covers 28 countries than it is to do them seperately. And of course, why wouldn't Ford jump to the defence of an organisation that had given it 450m euros of taxpayers money?

Thoughts?

[GommeInc]

One questions why Ford would say this, when they do not really manufacturer cars here. In fact, we should be pressing them on abandoning our country for the likes of Spain and Germany, or Cologne specifically where they manufacture.

Also, it is scaremongering - if it wasn't for the UK which has seen greater growth each year while mainland Europe has seen fewer cars being sold, Ford wouldn't have just barely saved themselves from recession. They owe the UK a lot, and Ford cars are generally the best sellers here.

It's a shame as I love Ford, I've only ever owned Ford cars but this blatant ignorance is overwhelming.

[The Don]

Well it does have three major manufacturing sites employing 35,000 people in the uk but let's just ignore those

[-:Undertaker:-]

Well it does have three major manufacturing sites employing 35,000 people in the uk but let's just ignore those

Who ignored that?

We're just pointing out how we've heard this ******** before from the likes of Nissan and Richard Branson and how they [Ford] have already moved jobs from the EU-member Britain to the non-EU member Turkey.

[Chippiewill]

Ford: "It can't make sense to leave the EU": http://******/f2gaL7 . So why did they move their van operations to Turkey?

Because labour in Turkey is clearly cheaper.

This **** ain't difficult to figure out. Comparing the UK to turkey is like comparing a great dane to a chiuaua.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Because labour in Turkey is clearly cheaper.

This **** ain't difficult to figure out. Comparing the UK to turkey is like comparing a great dane to a chiuaua.

Well duh.

That just proves my point that being outside of the EU doesn't matter a jot - what matters is our ability to compete. Otherwise Ford wouldn't be warning that they'd move to another EU country, they'd be warning us that they were about to move to (non-EU) India or some other third world country.