5,000 job losses in Sheffield region this year in No Deal Brexit

Five thousand jobs in the Sheffield region could be lost by the end of the year if there is a No Deal Brexit on Friday.
Sheffield city centre. Picture: Andrew RoeSheffield city centre. Picture: Andrew Roe
Sheffield city centre. Picture: Andrew Roe

‘Significant’ economic damage could occur if the EU refuses Prime Minister Theresa May’s request for a second extension to Article 50.

A report by the Sheffield City Region organisation states the impact would be ‘significant and negative’ in a host of areas from manufacturing to aviation to education. Overall, the region’s £31bn economy will be 11 per cent smaller by 2030, it states.

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It adds: ‘South Yorkshire’s export market is heavily dependent on the EU with 57 per cent of the value of all goods going to this market...tariffs and non-tariff barriers could impact costs on businesses of between five and 10 per cent on key sectors such as advanced manufacturing’.

‘Just in time’ supply chain production - a South Yorkshire speciality - will be ‘extremely difficult to maintain’ and fewer low skilled EU workers will be a challenge for sectors such as logistics and manufacturing. There will also be big impacts in sectors such as health and higher education if there are fewer higher skilled EU migrants, it adds.

If a deal is not agreed the UK will leave the EU common aviation area, which will restrict flight to 44 countries and have a ‘big effect’ on Doncaster Sheffield Airport which has a high number of eastern European flights.

Last week Rotherham MP John Healey said leaving without a deal would put Sheffield steel jobs at ‘immediate’ risk due to 25 per cent tariffs.

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Half the production at Speciality Steels is exported to the EU, it is understood. The firm employs hundreds at two sites in the borough.

Meanwhile there is uncertainty about the Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund set up to replace European Structural Funds worth £170m in Sheffield City Region.

A promised consultation has not taken place and there has been no detail on how much the fund will pay out.

SCR Mayor Dan Jarvis has been unsuccessfully lobbying government for the regi on’s ‘fair share’.