No deal manufacturing warning

No deal Brexit uncertainty is strangling manufacturing Unite warned today (September 2) as figures showed UK output tumbled at the fastest rate in seven years in August.

The IHS Markit/CIPS UK manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 47.4 last month, down from a reading of 48 in July. A reading below 50 indicates a contraction.

Employment in the sector also fell at the fastest rate for more than six years, as job cuts were driven by cost-saving initiatives ahead of Brexit.

Commenting Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner said, “These grim figures underline what our members have been telling us and are yet more evidence of the damage prime minister Johnson and his government of no deal Brexiteers are doing to UK manufacturing and jobs.

“No deal Brexit uncertainty is strangling production. If Johnson and his government succeed in getting the no deal Brexit they crave, then the consequences for UK manufacturing and the communities it sustains will be disastrous,” he added.

“Johnson and his government should be under no illusion, they will be held personally responsible for every job lost in the event of disastrous no deal Brexit.”

The latest figures come just a week after Unite’s manufacturing reps met with Cabinet Officer minister Michael Gove to press their case. Find out more in our video below: