Man To Move £180 Million Business To Spain Because Of Brexit
30 May 2017, 13:35 | Updated: 30 May 2017, 14:37
This business owner said he will move his multi-million pound empire to Spain because of the effects of Brexit.
"No deal is better than a bad deal" is the mantra peddled by May, but James O'Brien was on a mission to find out what this actually means, and asked his listeners for their take on it.
James O'Brien Rips Apart May's "No Deal Is Better Than A Bad Deal" Claim
One caller in particular feels very passionately about this, and told James O'Brien why he won't wait around to find out whether the UK gets a good deal, or even one at all.
He told James he's already begun the process of moving his business to Spain.
The caller said: "I was one of the 48 per cent who really didn't want to leave, and post the decision, my company will be leaving the United Kingdom.
"We'll be actually going to Spain."
James replied:"Oh."
He added: "We do a bit of pantomime on this programme, obviously a little bit of provocation, and then someone like you rings in and reminds me this is the cold, hard reality for people, and for you it's a commercial decision, for other people it's uprooting their entire families."
The caller said: "We had no choice...simply because of what happened to the pound against the euro."
He said that he is "fortunate" because he can take 80 per cent of his work force with him.
James said: "So that's all your taxes, their taxes, corporation tax, income tax, all taxes now going into the Spanish exchequer."
The real shock came when he told James how much his business was worth - £180 million.
James said: "Shut up. I thought it was just an anchovy stall or something like that, £180 million pounds? Can't you sit tight until you see what the deal is?
"Because it could be better than what you've got now, couldn't it? Somehow? Somewhere? Some way?"
The caller, whose company provides refrigeration units for trucks and commercial units, responded: "The customers are terribly nervous about having to pay tariffs.
"What we supply they would put a tariff on it, so we made the decision."
