EU referendum: Airbus UK chief warns Brexit would hurt jobs and investment

The head of Airbus in the UK has warned that the defence and aircraft company would reconsider its investment in the country in the event of Britain leaving the EU, saying such a move would be destructive with “enormous ramifications” for the UK’s long-term future.

In a blunt speech – delivered on the day that the head of the CBI called on employers to “turn up the volume” on the dangers of a Brexit – Paul Kahn, the president of Airbus Group UK, said that future investment and thousands of jobs would be at risk should the result of the referendum on EU membership signal an exit.

 Airbus employs more than 16,000 people in Britain in highly skilled jobs, including making wings for the A380, supplying helicopters and cybersecurity products. Kahn said he believed it was “vital for a company such as Airbus to come out and make a stand in favour of Britain remaining in the European Union”.

 He said senior executives of the global group were deeply concerned by the referendum promised by the new Conservative government. “I have discussed the EU situation with Denis Ranque, Tom Enders and other senior Airbus executives. They are deeply concerned by the possibility of Britain leaving the EU.”

 Kahn, addressing the Wales in London event, warned that between 150,000-200,000 jobs in Wales alone were dependent on being in Europe. He said he acknowledged that the EU could be bureaucratic but said doing business with Europe would be far more difficult if Britain voted to leave: “It’s a hell of a lot more difficult, more bureaucratic and more costly to do so from outside the EU than it is from within it.”

 He said that while the flagship Broughton plant – the biggest factory built in the UK in the past 25 years – would not close overnight, further investment would be unlikely. Airbus claims to invest £500m a year in British research and technology, with more than £6bn of annual revenues across its divisions.

 Kahn’s intervention chimes with calls on Wednesday from Sir Mike Rake, president of the CBI, and Chuka Umunna, the Labour shadow business secretary, on how business should make the case for Britain to stay inside the EU. Rake urged CBI members to talk more about the benefits of EU membership, which – according to the claim of a 2013 CBI report – is worth £3,000 for every UK household.

He told the employers’ organisation’s annual dinner: “Business has increasingly spoken out on this crucial issue and the time has come to turn up the volume. Speaking out clearly and in a language which people can understand. Business must be crystal clear that membership is in our national interest.”

 Umunna called for more multinationals to allow their UK executives, such as Kahn, to make the case for staying in the EU. He warned that a nervousness about getting involved in politics had meant that “too many of the heads of parent companies with UK subsidiaries are standing in the way of their UK representatives entering the fray”.

 He added: “We need multinationals to authorise their UK leadership to speak out on the importance of UK membership of the EU.”

Umunna argued that British companies could best make the case to stay in Europe by letting local and regional managers tell staff directly what the decision would mean for jobs and pay. He said: “The people who can make the argument with employees are the managers at local and regional level who are providing the shifts and running the operations.”

 Business provided two more endorsements – albeit far more lukewarm and ambivalent than Rake would wish – for staying in Europe on Wednesday.

Marc Bolland, the chief executive of Marks & Spencer, said: “The EU is important to M&S. We have more than 100 stores there. That tells you that we would be positive about Europe.”

 Bolland, who has co-written a government-backed paper on reducing red tape in the EU, added: “If there is willingness to reform, genuine interest in that, then we would be even more positive.”

 Energy firm SSE said: “The EU referendum is a matter for voters. However, we believe that the progressive integration of the GB energy market with other countries in Europe is in the best interests of efforts to deliver clean, affordable and secure supplies of energy.”

 David Cameron has pledged to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s membership of the EU and to hold a referendum before the end of 2017.

theguardian.com