Entrepreneur and TV star Lord Sugar has sparked a storm by predicting “mass unemployment” in Sunderland because of the crisis in the automotive industry - and blaming the city’s decision to vote for Brexit.
The star of BBC show The Apprentice said Sunderland had “tipped the scales” in the 2016 Brexit referendum and “now you will pay with mass unemployment in your area”.
He was speaking after automotive giant Honda announced it was to close its factory in Swindon with the loss of around 3,500 jobs.
That announcement came just a fortnight after fellow Japanese firm Nissan said it was cancelling production of its X-Trail model at its plant in Sunderland, which would have led to the creation of nearly 750 new jobs.
The Honda announcement is likely to have a knock-on effect for jobs in the North East, with a number of suppliers to the Swindon plant being based in Sunderland and other parts of the region.
Lord Sugar referenced suppliers in his tweet, which said: “Honda to leave UK with a potential loss of 3500 jobs in 2022.
“It won’t be long for Nissan to make same decision. Sunderland you tipped the scales in 2016 vote and now you will pay with mass unemployment in your area, not just Nissan factory but all the peripheral suppliers.”
Sunderland voted 61.3% in favour of Brexit in 2016, and has attracted criticism ever since given what some see as its reliance on industries that export to the EU.
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But the city was not in the top 50 areas for leave voting and other areas that voted for Brexit include Luton, though Lord Sugar does not mention this in his tweet.
Honda said this morning that its decision to close the Swindon plant was down to global trends in the automotive industry, and not affected by Brexit.
A number of Twitter users replying to Lord Sugar have made this point, as well as saying that he was unfair to single out Sunderland for responsibility for Brexit.
One reply said: “Sweeping generalisation of the whole of Sunderland. I’m sure the other 17-odd million might have had a part to play as well”, while others added sarcastic replies that included: “Damn you Sunderland for exercising your democratic right to vote...” and “I didn’t realise the whole 52% lived in Sunderland that voted for Brexit.”
