On Thursday Jaguar Land Rover announced that a hard Brexit could cost them £1.2billion & force them to consider leaving the U.K. entirely.

Such a move would mean the end of JLR’s Halewood plant, the end of car manufacturing in South Liverpool and the needless destruction of thousands of the best private sector jobs in Liverpool.

I am shocked but not surprised at this stark yet realistic warning from JLR Chief Executive Prof Ralph Speth about the appalling effects of the extreme Tory hard Brexit supported by half the Cabinet & a hardline cabal of Brexit extremists.

Unless we stay in the single market and customs union, the appalling dislocation & added costs will make JLR globally uncompetitive. It threatens a loss of 40,000 jobs directly & up to 300,000 when the supply chain is taken into account. £80billion of investment would be lost.

This cannot be contemplated. It’s about time this appalling Government put the interests of the people of this Country above their own manoeuvring to stay in office. Otherwise, our manufacturing industry faces total destruction.

Read about this in the Liverpool Echo