Brexit news: Rolls Royce considers move to Germany
One of the UK’s most quintessentially British brands is looking to transfer the design approval process for its large jet engines from Britain in preparation for a ‘hard’ Brexit scenario.
The FTSE 100 firm is concerned that without a solid and transparent trade arrangement with the EU in place, the uncertainty could cause the manufacturing and development of all Rolls-Royce engines to come to a halt.
A Rolls-Royce spokesman told Express.uk that job losses at the Derby plant were not yet on the cards.
He said: “Across all of our operations, Rolls-Royce is working to ensure there is no interruption in our service to customers as a result of Brexit. We are in regular dialogue with the Government about this.
“As you would expect, we have to consider what contingency measures we may need to take to ensure our operations in the UK and elsewhere can continue, and these may in the future include the transfer of the design approval for our large jet engines from the UK to Germany.
“This would be a technical measure as we already seek approval for our business jet engines from Germany, and we do not anticipate such a move would lead to the transfer of any jobs from the UK. No final decision has been taken on whether to activate this precautionary measure.”