The people of Swindon: do they regret voting for Brexit?

[EddyF]

With the closure of Honda - closing their Swindon plant, with the loss of 3,500 jobs, which the firm has attributed to Brexit, I wonder if the people of Swindon are having regrets since they were from the leave camp.

Reminds me of those who voted for Trump knowing his policies were targeted at them but felt they somehow were exempt. Like the Mexican man and his US wife voting for Trump then crying on the news he had been deported/couldn't get back in when he was out of the country.

I'm finding it really difficult sympathising with those who voted to leave by not looking at their own circumstances, but rather, other people. Majority of the people I have heard from who voted leave (from fb, and so on) they only cared about immigration. They thought leaving meant a 'clear up' taking hardly into account their own future and that of their children.

I'm sorry to the people in Swindon, but they did it to themselves.

And before people say "there wasn't enough information" there was enough to determine that we did not know what the 'deal' was.

I can't link article for Honda but it's everywhere on news sites.

Kazzyhoward - you miss the point. It's not that they're not moving to another EU country, but that they're moving production to a country that has 0% tariffs with the EU so any cars they produce will be tariff free rather than the 10% tariff the WTO dictates if there's no deal. That's why its Brexit related.

fucking soak in it, you idiots

Ahh, the voice of the intelligent concerned remainer.

39.01.15

As someone who works in the car trade and knows plenty of people working in a motor factory, I can say that I have a lot of sympathy for remain voters who are losing their jobs. Those who voted for this, then I am exceedingly happy that they've got what they wanted.

Yet another finger-wagging Brexit thread. Those saying that the people of Swindon deserve to lose their jobs ought to be thoroughly ashamed of themselves! These are people with families to support! What a thoroughly nasty thread. And what exactly does it achieve? FA.

Swindon resident here ,voted remain as did everyone I know who is a friend or business or professional contact
Tbh Honda has been having a down turn in business for a few years , before brexit was even imagined

The people to blame are the government, who staged the referendum, ran those campaigns, took the result of said referendum as an instruction rather than an advisory poll and triggered it with no fucking plan whatsoever.

I agree. Everyone needs to lobby for a better outcome now.

I think Madge is pretty valid in feeling like you got what you deserved if you voted Leave.

If you're not an immigrant you're probably a bit unaware of the tones constantly being thrown around.

My dh who is Irish got asked the day of the results if he'd be moving home now. And not in a friendly way.

The UK has bought this shit storm on themselves and while I have a lot of sympathy for those that voted Remain (as dh and I did). I've none for those that voted Leave.

A lady from school told me she voted Leave because foreigners were buying up houses in London. Yes, I'm a foreigner who bought a house in London. I laughed and told her she could buy my house as I knew then we'd be leaving.

She couldn't afford to buy it didn't stop her from voting to fuck over her country.

GhostofFrankGrimes

One of the local MPs was already peddling that load of BS within minutes of the Sky report. Apologies, I am a lay-dee, but what a f**kwit. (North Swindon I believe. If South, sorry my mistake. Unless you share his view, in which case you too are a twat).

Meh they can get another job. Plenty of other people have had to over the past 12-15 years, as multiple dozens of companies have closed down. BEFORE BREXIT - FANCY THAT. Companies closed down before Brexit, suck on that!

It will be a wake up call too, because most jobs don't pay the super high wages that car plant works have been treated to for many decades.

Welcome to the real world 'car plant' people. Where people have to live on minimum pay. Honestly, the way they were blathering on today, you would think they were the first to ever be made redundant!

Me and DH have been made redundant 5 times between us.

And all 5 times were many years before Brexit too!

Did I say it was before BREXIT?!

This fucking forum sometimes.......

I live in Swindon. I know no one (except my parents who don’t live in Swindon) who voted leave. Please don’t judge us all.

And flybmi have been averaging 18 passengers per flight for over 3 years.

But they weren’t flying large capacity planes from hub airports either? (Max capacity was 49).

There were redundancies before brexit?

Meh they can get another job.

Bonnie Greer
‏*@Bonn1eGreer*

"The usual formula is one job in the plant equates to four in the supply chain and the local economy. If closure is confirmed, it will rip the heart out of this area.”
union official-#Swindon.
#Honda
via @guardian

Gonna be a lot of people having to "get another job".

Yes, so what @SwedishEdith ? LOTS of people have had to 'get another job' .... 100's of 1000's of them over past decade or so. These car plant workers need to suck it up, and realise they're not that special.

The EU country Honda has its car plants in is the UK.
The UK is leaving EU and will not be able to guarantee tariff free trade due to ERG pushing hard Brexit.
EU has signed tariff free trade deal with Japan.
Honda can now move cars freely from Japan to EU but not from UK to EU.
Honda makes shock announcement it is closing UK plant.

Brexit isn't the only issue Honda faces, over production, drop in diesel demand etc but it seems highly unlikely it didn't play a role in terms of tariffs, JIT parts and currency fluctuations.

I feel very very sorry for those remainers losing their jobs in Swindon and beyond because of Brexit..(this may include myself)..

For those leavers losing their jobs, i have no sympathy whatsoever. This was predicted, if you did your homework and really questioned before making such a monumental voting decision, the information was out there!
Unfortunately your decision is dragging us all through this shit.

I grew up as the last of the Clyde shipyards closed, sometimes it just isn't possible to get another job.
That's why it's worth looking after the economy and the jobs people have.
No jobs, no taxes, no public services.

There are some revolting posts on this thread. Not everyone in Swindon voted leave and it truly is devastating for the town.

Those who are rubbing their hands together should be fucking ashamed.

Agree that it will decimate the town with the knock-on effect on other jobs too.

I'm not saying they deserve it because they voted to leave, just that brexit doesn't lead to us suddenly being the land of milk and honey as a minority seem to think it will. It doesn't magically make things cheaper, just the opposite - possibility of trade tariffs, etc.

There are other factors (the Government's about-turn on diesel cars killed off a large part of the motor industry for a start) but I do think brexit is playing a part. The lack of information about the tariffs for importing/exporting goods makes some people/companies nervous. They are always going to move to somewhere with cheaper labour costs if they can (and have in the past).

redandyellowandpinkandgreen99 blimey, I’m sorry that you lost your job 5 times. Sounds like you’ve lost your heart too?

It's not that they're not moving to another EU country, but that they're moving production to a country that has 0% tariffs with the EU so any cars they produce will be tariff free rather than the 10% tariff the WTO dictates if there's no deal. That's why its Brexit related.

it is obvious and hardly secret but some posters seem to really struggle with this.

i live in a leave town and if we get the no deal that brexiteers are clamouring for we'll be fucked and it wont be my fault.

feel sorry for remainers in swindon tonight- leave voters? not so much.

redandyellowandpinkandgreen99

You’ve previously posted about how you would like a no deal Brexit.

You seem not displeased with the Honda news.

Given that you’ve said that you’ve already been made redundant a number of times I truly hope that karma is a complete and utter bitch,

A number of (small) European airlines have folded in the last few months - Germania (based in Berlin) filed for insolvency on 5th Feb.

www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2019-02-05/germania-halts-operations-and-files-insolvency

Germania's bankruptcy filing is the latest in a series of airline failures across Europe in recent months, including Primera Air, VLM in Belgium, Cobalt in Cyprus, SkyWorks in Switzerland, and Small Planet Airlines

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary ... said he expects more closures and airline failures in 2019 due to overcapacity in the European market, which is causing continued fare weakness

There is “idiotic loss-making capacity out there in the marketplace" he said, warning that the excess capacity will persist in the summer unless there is a more meaningful take out of short-haul capacity.

Car manufacturers need access to
either
efficient just in time supply chains
or zero tariff markets

due to the Brexit vote the UK is about to lose both
so that car plant is closing
and others will follow