{"id":12333,"date":"2017-05-11T15:11:04","date_gmt":"2017-05-11T14:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=12333"},"modified":"2017-05-11T16:51:53","modified_gmt":"2017-05-11T15:51:53","slug":"friction-free-access-plea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=12333","title":{"rendered":"Friction-free access plea"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

In a major intervention, former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown this week warned that Britain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world class automotive industry is under dire threat from a hard Brexit pledged by the Tories, echoing almost exactly Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s views put forward in a recent auto film released by the union last month.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brown reiterated Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call in a Mirror column today<\/a> (May 11) ahead of his visit this afternoon to two major auto manufacturing sites \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the Jaguar Land Rover plant in Coventry where 8,000 people are employed and the Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere Port, recently bought out by the French owners of Peugeot, where another 2,100 work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The former prime minister highlighted why the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s auto industry is so successful.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bVehicle manufacturing contributes \u00c2\u014115.8bn to the UK economy and 9.4 per cent of manufacturing output,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he noted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut it’s a car industry with a huge advantage we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve built that differs from our past: we are so competitive and productive that we export 80 per cent of what we produce. And, by beating foreign competitors, half of all cars and vehicles produced in Britain are today sold into the European Union.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat’s more, the British car industry is so integrated with mainland Europe that hundreds of millions of parts and components go back and forward before we assemble the completed car in Britain,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Brown went on to say.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAny disruption to this integrated European supply chain, such as charging tariffs at \u00c2\u01411,000- \u00c2\u01412,000 extra per car, imposing custom barriers and losing crippling legal actions over rules of origin \u00e2\u20ac\u201c will instantly threaten British jobs and livelihoods.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He argued that the vast majority of the country is behind a considered Brexit that supports jobs and the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s key industries.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEvery opinion poll shows, what I seek for jobs — free trade and easy access for selling our goods in the European market — is overwhelmingly supported by both Leave and Remain,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt’s the one negotiating aim — that we bargain for tariff-free and friction-free access for our manufacturers – that could unite the country under a common national objective if unity is what the Conservatives really seek.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Such \u00e2\u20ac\u015btariff-free and friction-free access\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 is precisely what Unite has called for in its auto film, which features voices from workers, government and industry.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n