Nigel Farage has already caused me to lose one job, his mate could become the reason that I now lose a second one. In the lead up to the referendum in 2016, there were many warnings about how voting to leave would hurt British manufacturing, especially in the making of cars. However, the people giving these warnings were told they were part of “project fear”, that the German car industry would somehow come to the rescue and all manner of other nonsense – despite what the experts who worked in the car manufacturing sector were warning.
Since leaving, the car manufacturing sector in the UK has indeed been damaged by Brexit. From tariffs to border delays and chain disruptions all leading to increased costs and some companies moving production elsewhere – the pain has been undeniable. Just as predicted.
Like all political shocks, the working class people are affected first and hardest, in this case workers in factories, fabrication plants and logistics staff supplying the factories from the plants.
My work
I worked for a small haulage company where part of its business was carrying parts from fabricators to manufacturing plants in Derby and Sunderland as part of the ‘just in time’ chain. When Brexit happened it sent shockwaves through them and they all immediately started work on how to cut costs. One way was to change to a different haulage firm that was bigger and therefore could offer lower prices (at the expense of the HGV drivers including their working conditions). So that’s what they did and the small company I worked for lost out on that contract.
At the same time, Brexit caused tens of thousands of HGV drivers from the EU to go back to their countries, making an already acute driver shortage in the UK even worse. This, coupled with the loss of business, caused this company to close down. One of many all around the country. I was lucky though, in that another small company took on the remaining contracts so I got to carry on doing the same job, although from a different location further from my home, incurring extra travel costs and with a new company under a new contract (losing my security of being with a company for over two years so they can’t get rid of me for no reason – at any time).
Trump’s tariffs
Now, Trump, who Farage has always claimed would be a friend to the UK and has famously had photos with inside his golden lift, has imposed 10% tariffs on the UK and, seperately, 25% on the UK car industry. This has once again sent shockwaves through the sector, with suppliers and manufacturers scrambling around about how to cut costs.
I deliver parts from Tamworth to Sunderland on a daily basis as part of the just in time chain and have been told, once again, that work could either slow down or stop. If either happen, it will be yet another job taken from me by Farage and his follies. And working class people all around the country are once again worried about what their future may hold. Jaguar Land Rover has already reacted by pausing shipments to the USA over the tariffs. While Nissan in Sunderland supplies Europe, not the USA, their suppliers will still be affected as before – putting mine and many other’s jobs at risk.
It infuriates me that so many of my fellow working class people fell for the idea that the EU was the cause of our many problems when they never were – it was all problems caused by or not addressed by our own politicians. That is now proven given we left the EU and all the same problems remain or have got worse. And now they’re getting even worse, thanks to the exact thing Farage said would ‘save’ us after we left the EU, his mate – Donald Trump. How many times does Farage and whatever party he leads at any given time have to be wrong about everything, before people just stop voting for it?
