Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Mallett
Presumably the local UK agent or handler has also added costs so not necessarily a EU problem.
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Yes, handling fees will have contributed but this huge corporation have been bringing in multiple products on a daily basis for decades so that was already incorporated in it's pricing. And I must point out that I wasn't pointing a finger at the EU; I have no problem with European manufacturing, having a number of facilities myself in the 70s and 80s.
Which leads me onto my reply to Tel. This country has been striving to be a high wage economy since the 70s, which is why I stopped investing in UK manufacturing towards the end of that decade, and instead started looking in earnest overseas. By the mid 80s, about 70% of my company's sales was from goods manufactured outside of the UK, which is also why I used to spend over 6 months a year travelling to Europe and the Far East.
So it comes as no surprise to me that we can no longer afford to manufacture much here. As I say, it's nothing new and it matters not which political party is in power. And it's why my son who is in Japan is having a really hard time trying to convince Japanese companies to invest further in the UK. This is what he has done pretty successfully for the last 20 years, but currently it's almost impossible, so he tells me - and that's also what his senior partner at his old firm confirmed to him just a few weeks ago when they tried to get him to rejoin the firm.