Jaguar Land Rover boss warns tens of thousands of jobs at risk if no Brexit deal reached

The UK's largest car manufacturer said bad Brexit could cost it £60m a day

The chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover, Ralf Speth, has warned that tens of thousands of jobs in the UK motor industry are at risk if the UK crashes out of the EU with no deal.

The Jaguar boss directed his comments to Theresa May at the zero emissions summit held in Birmingham on Tuesday.

Mr Speth said the lack of clarity around Brexit means he does not know if his plants will be able to function after 29 March 2019, and told Sky News: “Just one part missing could mean stopping production at a cost of £60m a day. That is a huge risk. We depend on free, frictionless, seamless logistics.”

Jaguar is the UK’s biggest car maker and employs around 40,000 people in Britain.

In July, the company said it needed more certainty around Brexit in order to continue investing in its UK operations, and said a “bad Brexit” would cost the company more than £1.2bn in profit each year.

“We, and our partners in the supply chain, face an unpredictable future if the Brexit negotiations do not maintain free and frictionless trade with the EU and unrestricted access to the single market,” Mr Speth said.

“We urgently need greater certainty to continue to invest heavily in the UK and safeguard our suppliers, customers and 40,000 British-based employees.

“A bad Brexit deal would cost Jaguar Land Rover more than £1.2bn profit each year.

“As a result, we would have to drastically adjust our spending profile. We have spent around £50bn in the UK in the past five years, with plans for a further £80bn in the next five.

The company has already announced plans to cut 1,000 jobs in the UK, which was partly attributed to Brexit uncertainty.

Meanwhile, it is moving production of its Discovery model from the UK to Slovakia early next year, which is likely to affect hundreds of jobs.

Last week, Brexit secretary Dominic Raab said anyone concerned about potential damage to the UK car industry due to Brexit should be “showing a bit of mettle and standing up for this country”.