Note: This article has proved so popular that Yorkshire Bylines has now added it as a permanent feature and we will continue to update the index as the impact of Brexit begins to make itself felt across the country. See it HERE. As before if you know or hear of jobs being lost and attributed publicly to Brexit – email editor@yorkshirebylines.co.uk
Lord Digby Jones, a leading proponent of leaving the EU, said in July 2016, “There’s not going to be any economic pain. If there are job losses, they will be very few”. Of course, he wasn’t alone. Britain would stroll into the sunlit uplands holding all the cards … but as we approach the final break with our EU partners, we can already see how worthless those assurances were.
As late as January 2019 he was still maintaining “not a single job” would be lost because of Brexit.
There appears to be no definitive list of companies and organisations known to be relocating, moving operations or headquarters, closing factories in Britain and/or opening new ones in Europe – with Brexit cited as one of the reasons, if not the main driver, for these changes. Yorkshire Bylines has therefore compiled its own list (below).
Jones describes himself as an international businessman and in 2017 he published a book entitled Fixing Business – Making Profitable Business Work for the Good of All. The former director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (2000–2006) has shown himself to be completely ignorant of how British industry actually works. As a tribute to his ignorance, we have called the list the Digby Jones Jobs Lost Index.
In every case, the result will be fewer jobs in Britain. The list is certainly not exhaustive and contains only those we have noted in the press since 2016. No doubt many others can and will be added as Brexit begins to bite.
As we reach the end of the transition period, and still with huge uncertainty about the vital future trading relationship with our biggest customer and biggest supplier, more and more companies will make the decisions which will impact the lives and livelihoods of thousands of people, many of whom did not vote for Brexit.
If you know of companies in Yorkshire or elsewhere, where jobs are being lost due to Brexit either directly or indirectly, please email editor@yorkshirebylines.co.uk preferably with a link to the announcement and we will update the list.
The Digby Jones Jobs Lost Index (the updated version is available via a new, dedicated page HERE)
This list was last updated on 5 October 2020 at 18:14
