'Keep jobs in British motor industry safe - stay in the EU'

Jaguar Land Rover employs 40,000 people and there are a further 120,000 employed in their supply chain.

With Toyota, Honda, Peugeot, Nissan and others, thousands of cars are assembled in this country.

Seventy per cent are exported, with 50 per cent going to Europe.

The other big market is China and that market has stalled.

Around 850,000 people are employed in the industry and 1,100 trucks cross the English Channel every day with components to fulfil ‘just in time’ supply.

The industry is already facing headwinds following the unfair demonisation of diesel and the downturn in the Chinese market.

If we leave the European Union, the automotive industry will suffer tariffs and customs delays.

The impact on suppliers, in particular, will be enormous, with a high risk of job losses.

I believe that we should remain in the European Union now these facts have come to light.

I am sure that, if we were to hold another referendum, with this new information clear to voters, the majority would decide to remain.

You might even agree, having seen how the structural decline of UK industry is being exacerbated by Brexit, that the time is right for a new party that acknowledges fact over fiction when tackling our economic problems – like Renew, for example.

Andrew Jeffery

Address supplied