FrankieStein402
Whether or not any decision was linked to Brexit - Brexit was supposed to make Britain a better place for 'global business' - why would any company in their right mind move work out of 'Global Britain', surely they ought to be moving work here.
Your answer is here surely (2018);
inews.co.uk/news/business/gkn-hostile-takeover-how-vultures-swooped-140134
A global pandemic and a further decline in petrol and diesel car sales have hardly helped, not to mention the global chip shortage also affecting motor manufacturing.
The work is moving to other sites - they just happen not to be the UK ones..."A letter from GKN Automotive CEO Liam Butterworth, seen by Birmingham Live, states:"
The proposal is to transfer production to other sites in our network."
The next line in your link refers to other network sites in the UK;
He said the announcement would not affect other GKN Automotive facilities in the UK, including a site in Minworth, Sutton Coldfield, offices in Birmingham, London and Uxbridge and an advanced engineering centre in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
- although; "the potential of British workers seeing their jobs move abroad to one of GKN's many continental plants" is mentioned later.
And if you're arguing that the piece doesn't say the work is going to Europe this is the committee hearing you cite:
at 12:05:30 he is asked whether the work will continue and he says the work will go to Brunec in Italy.
Which is odd because the Guardian article I linked to yesterday also cites the same committee hearing - claiming that Poland and France will benefit (not Italy) - with local [UK] plants involved as well;
Poland and France will benefit from the planned closure of GKN’s factory in Birmingham, with local plants taking on work currently carried out by 500 of the group’s UK employees, under plans being considered by its owner, Melrose. ...
The plant produces drivetrain components for petrol and diesel cars.
And;
Simon Peckham, the chief executive of the FTSE 100 company, apologised for the difficulties faced by workers in Birmingham, but did not respond directly three times when asked if work would move to the EU, at a hearing with MPs on the business select committee on Tuesday.
In fact, the Guardian claim to have inside knowledge of the plans;
The plans, which are subject to mandatory consultations with employees, could lead to about four-fifths of Birmingham’s work being moved to a plant in Oleśnica, south-west Poland. The rest of the work could move to locations in France, people with knowledge of the plans told the Guardian.
I haven't got the time or the inclination to investigate the discrepancy (your link) - needless to say I hope the Guardian journalist was not asleep on the job and made something up.