The UK government’s next fleet of ministerial vehicles will be made in Germany due to supply chain issues exacerbated by Brexit. The Independent reports that the Metropolitan Police will be axing the armoured Jaguar XJs in exchange for Audi A8s – built in the German state of Baden-Württemberg – because no British car maker is “able to meet the requirements of the tender”.
Jaguar has manufactured British government ministerial cars for more than 30 years but its plants have had to halt production at various times over recent years due to difficulty obtaining parts.
Jonathan Reynolds, Labour’s shadow business secretary said:
Twelve years of Tory instability and uncertainty has left our car industry suffering.
UK car manufacturing output is less than half the level it was six years ago – a truly harrowing situation for a hard-working industry which deserves better.”
At the same time, a YouGov poll, published by The Times newspaper on Christmas Eve , revealed that only 34% of those who voted for the country to exit the European Union still think it was the right move, while 19% of those surveyed regretted their vote. Just 20 per cent of all voters thought Brexit had been good for Britain.
Despite promises to take back control of Britain’s borders post-Brexit, the opposite has happened, as economic migrants – mostly unaccompanied males of military age – have crossed the English Channel in unprecedented numbers to languish in taxpayer funded hotels while they await free social housing.
The UK pound has fallen 19% to the US dollar since Britain voted to leave the European Union on June 23, 2016.
“The UK chose Brexit in a referendum, but the government then chose a particularly hard form of Brexit, which maximized the economic cost,” said Michael Saunders, a senior adviser at Oxford Economics and former Bank of England official. “Any hope for economic upside from Brexit is pretty much gone.”
