[St Charles Owl]

I work for a Sheffield manufacturing company who’s philosophy is to produce products in the market it sells in. As a company we are against Brexit but we also expect there to be little change to our operations if the UK leaves or not. We will adjust to whatever the outcome is, not because we want to but because we will have to as we are 85% export. We now have manufacturing in Sheffield (4 factories), India, Poland, France and Chicago (with West Coast in CA coming later this year), companies will have to adapt to survive and prosper.

As regards the car industry, that wasn’t killed by one entity, the Unions in the 60s and 70s have a lot to answer for with their stupid antics of constant walkouts and strikes., Red Robbo and all that entailed played a major part in killing the industry. Steel manufacturing in Sheffield collapsed in the early 80s, not sure that had anything to do with the EU, that was a global problem with cheap imports from the Far East. But Sheffield adapted over the next 20 years and now produces more tonnage of steel than it ever has and is a world leader is speciality steels and forgings. The difference is the industry used to employ more workers than it does now but it is still the backbone of Sheffield industry.

I agree with Matt that staying in the EU will not guarantee manufacturing companies will stay in more expensive member states such as the UK, while trade and movement of people is essentially free a lot of companies will move to these member states that have far cheaper labour rates and offer massive incentives for factories to be built. This obviously isn’t the be all and end all of the EU but it is one aspect of it, especially since the membership has been expanded to include a lot of countries who are distinctly an economic class below the major Western European countries.