Airbus and BMW are both big businesses which enjoy the UK for its safe and tolerant environment, the rule of law, an educated and a highly skilled workforce, excellent energy and water supplies, advanced and reliable communications and an efficient system of government and local administration. And that’s not to mention that they don't need to bribe officials every time a business needs a permit, a licence or any type of official document – as is the case in many other countries that these businesses threaten to move to. They enjoy an environment paid for by society over generations, an environment to which these big business haven't contributed to. Corporations have to pay less in taxes compared to what working people have to pay.
So it is that the threat made by Airbus that its investment in the UK would be at risk in the event of a no deal Brexit has done nothing to dent the determination of the British people to ensure the Government gets on with it and leaves the European Union. On the contrary, it will have strengthened their resolve, not because they don’t take such threats seriously, but because one thing the people don't like in particular is a multinational corporation – that has benefited from countless subsidies and support – attempting to blackmail the Government and force it to take a course of action contrary to their wishes.
And it’s hilarious that the state-of-the-art wing making plants in the UK which are responsible for the design and making of high-technology wings for all Airbus models – along with the overall designs and supplies of the fuel system and landing gear for most Airbus models – could easily be relocated somewhere else in the world like you would a plastic moulding outfit.
Also with BMW and its threats of reducing capacity if components did not arrive on time due to delays at the border following the UK's EU referendum vote: if BMW wants to ensure no delays in its just-in-time strategy, they should make these components domestically and, with it, eliminate the impact on the environment by components endlessly going back and forth along the Channel.
The purpose of all of these threats is not to change people’s minds. The national tide has not turned against Brexit itself or in any of its forms, and that the public still seems to accept that eventually Britain will leave the European Union. The purpose is to try and put the Government into a good position in order to agree a fake Brexit with the UK remaining in the Single Market and the Customs Union.
In this they are joined by the TUC on the grounds of putting the economic interests and people’s jobs first, despite the fact that these very things are only guaranteed when we have full control of the economic levers of the country – which we do not have while we remain in the Single Market and the Customs Union. What the large multinational corporations don't understand is that when it comes to Brexit, the people are in the driving seat. Politicians might wish to settle for a false Brexit along the lines of Norway, but the people don’t. The House of Lords proposed just that, but they were duly humbled.
Now that the EU Withdrawal Bill has become an Act, the Government has a mandate to press ahead more forcefully. It’s the Remainers who are now on the back foot, hence their hysteric pronouncements and threats, on which they have already started rowing back