Landrover (JLR Tata) are defo moving their Discovery production to Slovakia. IMHO it won't be long before they move ALL of their production out of the UK to wherever.

 

 

Very true but mega cold in the winter

 

Some pundits are saying this move will allow defender production to occur at solihull in the discovery's place

 

We'll wait and see. TATA is an Indian company who also own TATA Steel much of which is in the UK. IMHO Solihull is dead in the water since Brexit as are many retail chains and industries, take for instance Rolls Royce Aero Engines in Derby and the vehicle industry is suffering the ill effects of the turndown generally. TATA being Indian are only interested in profit margin and investment none of which the UK government can or will offer. As stated, we'll wait and see but it doesn't look too hopeful for the slippery slope downhill

 

Britain no longer 'tier one' military power, experts say - Business Insider

 

Paul, what does that have to do with the price of bread!

IMHO I don't really care a tinkers about the UK, I don't live there anymore and certainly wouldn't move back there.

 

Here are some of the major firms raising their voices over Brexit:

Airbus - The plane manufacturer warned it could pull out of the UK with the loss of thousands of jobs if Britain leaves the single market and customs union in March 2019 without a transition agreement in place.

BMW - A senior director said post-Brexit delays in importing components could see UK plants close.

Unilever - Is moving corporate headquarters to Rotterdam in a major blow to the UK, although it has claimed the decision is not Brexit-related.

Siemens - The German firm's boss has warned time is running out to secure a Brexit deal.

Goldman Sachs - Is set to at least double its Frankfurt office to 400 staff through a mix of relocations and local hires, though other EU sites will also be expanded.

HSBC - Plans to move up to 1,000 jobs to France, where it already has a full service universal bank after buying up Credit Commercial de France in 2002.

JP Morgan - Around 1,000 front and back-office roles are likely to be relocated from London as part of plans to bulk up a number of EU offices.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Intends to relocate up to 125 UK staff to Dublin as part of its Brexit contingency plans.

Morgan Stanley - Understood to have plans to add around 200 staff in Frankfurt through a mix of new hires and relocations, with around 80 staff to be added to the bank's Paris office.

Jaguar Land Rover - The car giant is set to shift all production of its Discovery model to Slovakia from Birmingham in a move likely to affect hundreds of workers, although it has insisted it is not linked to Brexit.

EasyJet - The airline has applied for a new air operator's certificate (AOC) in Austria to allow it to continue flying in the European Union after Brexit, setting up a headquarters in Vienna.

 

That was my point.

From the article:

"Dr Jan Honig, a senior lecturer in war studies at King's College London, said that shared defence can be disrupted in times of nationalism, and called it "highly ironic" that Brexit could mean the UK can longer fund its military.

"You can't really do it by yourself even if you spent a lot more on defence which is not going to happen in this country with this measly economic growth and the uncertainty about international trade details," Honig said."

We here in the US are going through a similar situation. As a result of Trump imposing tariffs, Harley Davidson is planning to move some production to Europe, costing Americans jobs. Simultaneously, yesterday, the oldest and largest manufacturer of nails in the US announced layoffs as a result of steel tariffs. They predicted more layoffs in the future and expressed concern about tariffs threatening the company's very existence.

 

Apologies Paul, I misunderstood your reasoning. You are correct sir, Britain is in a parlous state financially and much the same as the US in some respects. It seems that whoever when in crisis starts inwardly regressing hoping it all come right sooner or later and as we all know, it won't. Unfortunately the politicians will never lose whether in government or out as they usually can 'sell' themselves to someone for 'advice' or 'speeches', vis a vis Tony Blair, in truth I can remember him when he didn't have two pennies to rub together. As for May and Trump the best thing they could do is disappear from the stage and let someone else reign havoc rather than two geriatrics squabbling over issues and damaging their countries. I don't know too much about US politics but I would like to see someone with new ideas like Keir Starmer take the helm in the UK. We live in hope and expectancy, but my initial estimate for Brexit excluding the 'divorce bill' was £100bn, maybe I should look again at my estimate.

As for your initial missive, I agree, the Chiefs of Staff have been complaining of under funding the military for 10-20 years or even since WW2 but every year they cut the defence spending even more. Sooner or later there will be issues somewhere in the world and the military will be saying 'I told you so'. It's like any insurance, you never need it until you do.