German carmakers say UK must accept free movement deal

German carmarkers have said that the UK must accept the free movement of EU citizens in exchange for access to single market.

Following the recent Brexit vote, a key promise of the leave campaign was restricting access to the UK. Leave campaigners argued that following a leave vote, Germany would push for a generous trade deal with the UK.

However, German carmakers have said that the UK must accept free movement, in return for access to the single market.

Matthias Wissmann, from the German Automotive Industry Association said: “We don’t like to build new barriers… but any bid to secure full access to the single market would necessarily come with conditions. Everyone who negotiates on the British side will understand that.

“If you want full access to the market,that comes necessarily with the free movement of people. That’s the bitter pill the Brexiteers have to accept,” he added.

Responding to those comments, Conservative MP John Redwood said: “I don’t think he [Mr Wissman] speaks for the German government

“We’ve heard Mrs Merkel take a fairly emollient line. She is only too well aware that German industry is saying to her: ‘For goodness sake do not end up with tariffs and barriers in the way of our very substantial exports to the United Kingdom market.”

Wissman said: “Half of the U.K.’s 2.6 million annual new-car sales are built by German-owned companies and Germany exports about 810,000 passenger cars a year to Britain.”

According to the VDA, about 57% of the 1.6 million cars built in Britain in 2005 were exported to EU countries and the German auto industry has 100 production sites in Britain including suppliers, 30% more than in 2010.

The UK auto industry is mostly owned by foreign companies. Japan’s Nissan, Toyota and Honda all have car factories in England, set up largely to export to the EU.

Toyota produced about 190,000 cars in the U.K. last year. Of that, 75 percent went to the EU. Only 10 percent was shipped and sold within Britain.

 

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