Britain is working

At any other time, news that Honda intends to close its Swindon plant in two years’ time with the loss of 3,500 jobs would have been seen for what it is: a tragedy for those affected, their families and businesses it supports. But the story was used by both sides in the Brexit wars to prove their point. Certain Remainers saw it as proof of what leaving the EU will bring, while some Leavers were almost callous in the way they shrugged off the closure. When news like this is being exaggerated for effect, it’s hard to form a clear view of what’s going on. But through the fog, a pattern is discernible.

The car-making industry is in great difficulties worldwide, as Ross Clark argued in our cover piece a fortnight ago. Honda is also to stop making the Civic at its plant in Turkey, and it has blamed the closures on changing global demand, saying it needs to focus on electric cars. Its chief executive said that Brexit ‘was not taken into account’ in the Swindon decision; if so, this makes things worse. What is true for Honda will be true for other carmakers, so we can expect more such closures. Each one will be a hammer blow for their local community.

But it would be wrong to see the car industry as a bellwether for the UK economy, which keeps creating jobs at an astonishing rate. It emerged this week that 444,000 jobs were added last year alone: around 1,200 a day. Economists are still trying to explain this success, which certainly contrasts with HM Treasury’s estimate that the vote for Brexit would in itself cost 500,000 jobs. In fact, the problem emerging now is not a lack of jobs, but a lack of workers.