The European aviation giant Airbus is trying the blackmail the British Government over Brexit its been confirmed this week. Airbus has confirmed it will sack its entire UK workforce of over 14,000 people and completely leave the UK in the event of a "no-deal" Brexit.
The aerospace giant that has taken billions of pounds of UK taxpayers money in the form of subsidies and tax breaks over the years directly employs 14,000 in a number of sites including Bristol, Stevenage and Portsmouth. According to some calculations, a further 110,000 people are employed indirectly by suppliers to Airbus - and their jobs are not at risk.
In documents on its website Airbus said it would "reconsider its investments in the UK, and its long-term footprint in the country" if Britain left the single market and customs union without a transition agreement, however, it has told many MP's directly that it will leave the UK completely upon Brexit.
Tom Williams. chief operating officer of Airbus Commercial Aircraft said: "In any scenario, Brexit has severe negative consequences for the UK aerospace industry and Airbus in particular. - Therefore, immediate mitigation measures would need to be accelerated."
"While Airbus understands that the political process must go on, as a responsible business we require immediate details on the pragmatic steps that should be taken to operate competitively.
"Without these, Airbus believes that the impacts on our UK operations could be significant.
"We have sought to highlight our concerns over the past 12 months, without success."
"Far from Project Fear, this is a dawning reality for Airbus."
"Put simply, a no-deal scenario directly threatens Airbus' future in the UK. - We will leave the UK."
The company has already lobbied numerous politicians on both sides of the political spectrum with an increased effort to get them to urge the government to stay in the customs union.
Airbus is very deliberately making its presence felt by effectively counting it entire UK workforce as bargaining chips as the company stamps its feet. At the time of the referendum, Airbus UK made sure its remain views were known in a series of emails to staff which basically told them which way to vote, a virtual slap in the face of democracy.
UK employees of Airbus now face an even more uncertain future, fresh in the knowledge their employer thinks they are worthless and has already made plans to fire them during 2020.
