UK automotive industry calls on government to rethink Brexit plans

The warning, made at the annual summit of the industry’s trade body SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders) came as the latest figures show that despite a record year in 2017 the sector is now seeing job cuts and a slowdown in production output and investment. Indeed, in the first six months of 2018 just £347.3 million has been earmarked for new models, around half the sum announced in the same period last year.

SMMT’s chief executive Mike Hawes cautioned that the industry’s latest figures (it turned over £82 billion in 2017) are the result of investment decisions made long before the referendum and that the signs are now beginning to look more ominous.

"This is what we can achieve when we are unfettered but the industry has to make long-term decisions and the positive figures generated today are the result of investments made many years ago,” he said.

Leaving the single market and customs union will, he said, bring an end to the seamless movement of goods that the UK sector relies upon and he called on government to rethink its plans. “Government red lines go directly against the interests of industry," said Hawes. "We must retain membership of the customs union and secure as many of the benefits of single market membership that we can. It makes no sense for our sector to have different regulation to the rest of Europe.”