Shropshire Star

Checkmate for MP and new Airbus warning

It’s Chequers – but not as the cabinet would know it. As Theresa May was attempting to knock heads together at her country residence, MP Glyn Davies joked that he turned up at the wrong venue.

Published
Glyn Davies tweeted this selfie

He took a selfie outside the Michelin-starred Checkers restaurant in Montgomery. It came as the Airbus chief re-iterated his warning about the consequences of Brexit.

Mr Davies said he had been tipped off by rumours of a “big meeting” but had got the wrong end of the stick.

The Montgomeryshire MP posted the photograph on Twitter, with the caption: “Damn. Turned up at wrong location again. Did it last Saturday as well. Had an invite to some discussion at Chequers today from a Theresa. Had heard about some big meeting there on the news. Could be important I thought. Turned out to be wrong Theresa. Wrong Chequers.”

While Mr Davies took a light-hearted approach, the concerns of business came to the fore again.

Tom Enders, chief executive of the European plane manufacturer Airbus, said the UK’s withdrawal from the EU will be damaging for the UK.

He told a press conference in London: “The sun is shining brightly on the UK, the English team is progressing towards the final, the RAF is preparing to celebrate its centenary and Her Majesty’s Government still has no clue, no consensus on how to execute Brexit without severe harm to the country.”

Airbus, which employs 15,000 people across 15 UK sites, has previously warned it could leave the UK if there is no transition deal.”

He added: “Make no mistake – Brexit, in whatever form, soft or hard, light or clean or whatever you call it, will be damaging for the industry, for our industry, for other industries and damaging for the UK whatever the outcome will be.”

Meanwhile, a senior member of the Scottish Government said voters must be given a say on the final outcome of Brexit talks between Britain and the rest of the EU.

Mike Russell, the constitutional relations secretary in Nicola Sturgeon’s cabinet, said that people require such a ballot. The comments appear to be among the strongest yet from an SNP politician in favour of a so-called People’s Vote on the terms of Brexit.

Scottish Government ministers have already said they would be sympathetic to this, but have been wary in case a second European referendum sets a precedent for what would happen if Scots were ever to vote for independence. But Mr Russell stressed however that there would need to be clarity on what would happen if Scotland again voted against Brexit and the UK voted for it.

The Constitutional Relations Secretary spoke out as Theresa May gathered her UK Cabinet at Chequers to discuss what Britain’s relationship with the EU could look like after the Brexit process.

In terms of getting a workable proposal that would be acceptable to the other 27 EU nations, Mr Russell said the Prime Minister was “very far from being out of the wood”.

He said this was the “issue that is going to haunt them”.

Pressed on whether there should be a second European referendum, he stated: “I’ve been very sympathetic to that, the only caveat I’ve expressed, and it needs to be resolved, is what happens if that vote were to repeat what happened two years ago - Scotland to vote to stay and the rest of the UK to vote to leave.

“We couldn’t do that twice. So that has to be resolved.

“But I think people do require a say, and we certainly require a say on the final outcome. This is not a second vote, this is a say on the final outcome.”

Mr Russell continued: “We are in the most extraordinary, the most difficult times that I can certainly remember. They are not being helped by certainly the most incompetent UK government I have ever seen.

“So there needs to be a clear choice. If the choice is Brexit Britain in this chaos and mess or independent membership of the EU, that would be a real choice.”