Surprise, surprise...
"The number of new cars made in the UK fell again sharply last year plummeting to its lowest level since 1956."
Sure there are some global factors, but...
"car makers are concerned the UK has not yet got a strategy to make the country competitive as a destination for manufacturing investment"
"Firms are worried that the UK is falling behind the US and the EU when it comes to offering state aid to manufacturers"
But, but...
I thought brexiteers claimed that the EU was inflexible about state aid?
"EU is considering retaliating (to the US) by either explicitly relaxing state aid rules or doing so under the guise of extending Covid recovery or green technology-boosting programmes."
"One of the benefits of Brexit was meant to be escaping from the straitjacket of EU state aid rules which limited the amount of support governments could give to favoured industries.
Mr Hawes (SMMT) conceded the UK could be in the unenviable position of offering less support to crucial industries than we did before we left the EU."
Probably because our export markets are disappearing, and our imports (including raw materials) cost more because brexiteers crashed the pound and the UK economy!
Even the rabid brexit press (the daily fail for example) are starting to turn...
"Like a multi-car motorway collision, the dire economic news continues to pile up."
"Our national debt has hit an eye-watering £2.5trillion*. December borrowing was the highest on record. We are labouring under the highest tax burden since the 1940s."
"Only growth can get us off the road to ruin"
Could brexiteers suggest where this growth could come from when we have lost the benefits of the biggest trading bloc in the world, and those 'easiest deals in history' don't (and never will) exist?
*It's more than that of course, but who's counting
"The truth however is much worse, factoring in all liabilities including state and public sector pensions, the real national debt is closer to £4.8 trillion, some £78,000 for every person in the UK"