Letter: Strange French connection for Brexit supporter Boris
I noted with interest Boris Johnson's appearance at the Europa Worldwide Warehouse at Dartford, Kent. It wasn't so much what he had to say about 'Brexit' it was his choice of transport – a large red lorry. Was he limited to the choice of colour? Was it a retake of Henry Ford, 'you can have any colour as long as it is.....'.
I was equally fascinated by a small square panel to the rear of both the driver and passenger doors, Renault trucks. Surely Boris you would need a British truck to accompany a Brexit. Well there of course lies a problem. I am old enough to remember when roads were occupied by British trucks, vans and lorries.
AEC (Associated Equipment Company) had its manufacturing base in Southall, London, and ceased trading in 1979. Albion Trucks was based in Glasgow and ceased trading in 1980. Seddon Atkinson was based in Preston and Oldham and was taken over by Iveco who moved production to Spain where the name was lost. ERF was based in Sandbach and became part of the MAN AG group. Foden was taken over by Daf. Guy was a firm based in Wolverhampton that ceased trading in 1982. Scammell became another part of the Daf empire and the factory was closed in 1988.
I can see your predicament Boris but there again those schooled at Eton, educated at Oxford and socialised in the Bullingdon Club would not be aware of such decline. Over a period of more than 30 years this country's manufacturing base has shrunk by two thirds. In 1950 British production accounted for 10 per cent of global exports. By 2009 this had shrunk to three per cent.
In the 1960s a million people worked in car production, by 2009 it was 180,000. Manufacturing is now one tenth of the UK economy but the service industry has grown to 75.8 per cent. Should we be faced with a war situation similar to that faced in 1940 is this country able to produce the materials and equipment required to be able to survive? Our roads seem to be occupied by Volvo, Scania, Mercedes, Iveco, MAN and Daf not to mention Boris in his red Renault. Allez les Bleus!
S J Pearce, Berriew
