Opinion
Letter: It will take generations for us to recover from leaving the EU
A photograph from one of the 'March for Europe' events. Photograph: NurPhoto. - Credit: SIPA USA/PA Images
A survey of EU companies with a British base reveals 46% will be reducing UK capacity, explains Magdalena Williams.
The list of industries either moving, considering a move, reducing capacity or shutting up shop altogether because of Brexit uncertainty and rising costs due to the weak pound, now stands at: Airlines, car manufacturers (2.7 million workers at risk), component makers for aerospace and car tech, financial services (2.2 million workers), video games, restaurants and hotels (4.9 million workers) and retailers (2.6 million workers). That is a total of at least 12 million workers. Many of those will work for EU companies with a UK base; a survey of these has shown that 46% will be reducing UK capacity, 15% will move all operations to the EU, 28% will move a 'significant' proportion and 29% will move smaller parts of their operation.
Then there's the other stuff that comes with leaving the EU: Good Friday agreement in danger, reintroduction of roaming charges, loss of essential EU workers from the NHS, universities, hospitality and farming industries, removal of farming subsidies, loss of regeneration cash for poor communities, end of Erasmus, EHIC and Open Skies schemes, relaxation of workers' rights (making it easier to fire people), health and safety rules and food safety and consumer protection regulations.
Oh, and loss of funding for cancer research and other critical medical research projects, loss of reciprocal cross-country research into illnesses and treatment, loss of research grants across all areas, resulting in further brain drain... unfortunately I could go on.
When will someone in power; frankly anyone, have the balls to stand up and say, 'this is all crap'? It's going to hurt us immeasurably, it will take us generations to recover.
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Magdalena Williams
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