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United Kingdom Businesses

After Brexit, More Than 100 Firms May Move To Ireland (mirror.co.uk) 442

An anonymous reader quotes The Daily Mirror: Ireland has said it has received more than 100 inquiries from major firms looking to move from the UK because of Brexit. Martin Shanahan, the chief executive of the Industrial Development Agency, said the bulk of the interest came from banks and financial institutions based in the City of London. He told the Guardian newspaper that Dublin was looking to capitalize on Brexit by wooing firms with its low corporation tax rate and status as the only English speaking country in the EU after the UK leaves the trading bloc... A recent report by accountants PwC said up to 100,000 jobs in the UK financial services sector could be lost if the UK cannot strike a deal on passporting.
The New York Times also reports on the European Medicines Agency -- which oversees approval of drugs across Europe (like America's FDA) from London. The agency believes that relocating to a different country could mean losing up to half its employees, which would majorly impact the licensing and monitoring of prescription drugs for the entire European Union.
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After Brexit, More Than 100 Firms May Move To Ireland

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  • by Anonymous Coward

    Else they just run to Ireland, or other low cost havens.

    Brexit is just a nice excuse, they'd want to do this anyway.

  • Would find it just as likely they are using Brexit as a convenient more acceptable excuse as "we are moving to a tax haven, thanks" doesn't go down well at the moment.
  • by Z80a ( 971949 ) on Monday December 26, 2016 @02:34AM (#53554645)

    That you should not try to force people into what you want.
    Brexit, Trump, the shit will keep happening over and over and over again until you learn how to talk to people like adults.

    • by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Monday December 26, 2016 @02:45AM (#53554669) Journal

      They are not adults, but xenophobic troglodytes who don't bother to verify catchy but wrong claims by blowhard politicians.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Indeed, it's unreasonable to force the 48% of people who voted to remain, and the unknown % of people who voted to leave but don't want a "hard" Brexit, to suffer the consequences of pulling out of the Single Market and European Human Rights and freedom of movement.

      Scotland voted 62% in favour of remaining. Gibraltar voted 96% in favour of remaining. It's the end of the UK if they are ignored.

  • This sounds like 100+ (is that all? really) companies that really don't get Brexit. I'm guessing that they will get it soon enough in a sad way.

    • companies that really don't get Brexit

      Trade conditions are going to change, companies look to mitigate. What's not to get?

    • You're right, there is a lack of understanding. Some companies will benefit from Brexit, my employer for example and our neighbours. They export to the EU, so a weak pound is good. We earn off the back of used cars, so low new car sales are good for us because it means more prime are buying used.

      We're not representative of the UK - the average income is about 3 times the UK median, and noone is below 150% of the median. So who cares if your fuel or holiday is 20% more expensive when you're earning a six fig

    • by golodh ( 893453 ) on Monday December 26, 2016 @10:09AM (#53555565)
      @zoid.com

      Just for you I'll explain.

      Those financial firms (many of them US banks) cater to the EU rather than Britain. While Britain was in the EU it made sense to set up shop in London. Good place to live, they speak English over there, good timezone, good communications, adequate and halfway familiar legal environment, sufficient critical mass of a raft of supporting firms, relatively liberal trading rules (for Europe), their customers just a phone call or a 1-3 hour flight away, and zero complications doing business with anyone else in the EU. That's what the EU was designed for. Life was good.

      Various other EU countries might have preferred the seat of all that financial service to be in their own country instead of London. Financial firms provide high quality jobs and have a high (taxable) turnover. Only they couldn't do shit about it. EU guarantees free exchange of services and the most influential players (US banks) happened to prefer London. Not in the last place because London and the UK really listened to industry demands (knowing full well what they stood to lose if they didn't). So London it was. End of story.

      Enter Brexit.

      Brexit means the UK leaves the EU and has to negotiate terms on which to continue trading. The most basic terms of free trade (WTO--level) ensure free movement of goods but NOT free movement of services. Which EU membership guarantees, only that's what Britain is ending. So Britain is very much the asking party here.

      Anyone prepared to bet that other EU countries (like Ireland) will be eager to let Britain keep all that yummy taxable business? And those jobs? When they can simply negotiate away London-based firms' comfy access to the EU, grab the jobs and (part of) the revenue? Really?

      Those financial firms sure aren't. The incoming US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross (see http://www.npr.org/sections/th... [npr.org] ) isn't (see http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/u... [mirror.co.uk] ). I wouldn't either.

      People who bet that Britain will keep providing financial services to Europe surely aren't picking the best odds here.

  • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Monday December 26, 2016 @04:18AM (#53554833)

    status as the only English speaking country in the EU after the UK leaves the trading bloc...

    The Netherlands, Luxembourg, and basically half of Europe under the age of 30 would take issue with this statement. And I'll be damned if the Dutch aren't easier to understand than the Irish when speaking English ... or even when speaking Dutch.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      I was in the Netherlands on business recently and everyone spoke perfect English, even the waitress in her mid 50s at the restaurant.

      I'm thinking of moving there. There are a lot of good job offers with relocation packages at the moment. Definitely a bit of a brain-drain going on. There is some urgency too, as no-one knows when the cut-off date for exercising your EEA treaty rights (freedom of movement) will be.

      • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Monday December 26, 2016 @06:47AM (#53555073)

        I was in the Netherlands on business recently and everyone spoke perfect English, even the waitress in her mid 50s at the restaurant.

        I had a retarded person (in the literal sense, mental and physical disability with a major speech impediment to boot which I even figured out listening to his Dutch) approach me in the street the other day and ask me to help him. I totally gave up. I wasn't even prepared to struggle through Dutch, it's hard enough to understand the people who can speek it properly. "Sorry, Ik spreek geen Nederlands". Then in perfect English (as perfect as anyone with a disability) he asked me if I knew how to get to the supermarket.

        Unbelievable.

        I'm thinking of moving there.

        There are a lot of good job offers with relocation packages at the moment. Definitely a bit of a brain-drain going on. There is some urgency too, as no-one knows when the cut-off date for exercising your EEA treaty rights (freedom of movement) will be.

        Tip for free: The Dutch have very high taxes 52% bracket kicks in at like 50000 EUR but are also very keen to snap up foreign talent. If you can find a job before moving over then the employer and a tax agent can ask for the 30% facility because you were brought in to the country for talent. This gives you a 30% tax free threshold on your income as well as simplifies some of the moving hassle (e.g. you can transfer a drivers license from almost any country if you get this facility, vs a list of like 20 countries if you don't)

        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Indeed, the tax breaks are very attractive at the moment. Norway seems to be really pushing to get UK talent in at the moment too.

    • by GNious ( 953874 ) on Monday December 26, 2016 @05:57AM (#53554999)

      I should think Cyprus, Gibraltar, and Malta might take even more issue with it ...

      • To be fair those three aren't really the European economic powerhouses that attract major multinationals to build a European headquarters. Hell one of them is flat broke and I will wager another will be returned to Spain as part of the Brexit negotiations.

        • by GNious ( 953874 )

          Oh, sure, but the summary points explicitly at language as being the driver for the move :)

    • status as the only English speaking country in the EU after the UK leaves the trading bloc...

      The Netherlands, Luxembourg, and basically half of Europe under the age of 30 would take issue with this statement. And I'll be damned if the Dutch aren't easier to understand than the Irish when speaking English ... or even when speaking Dutch.

      The summary obviously means English as a dominant language. If you're a native English speaker there's a difference to living in a country where English is widely spoken compared to one where it's the dominant language.

      • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Monday December 26, 2016 @09:50AM (#53555477)

        The summary obviously means English as a dominant language.

        And I obviously mean the same. I hear more people speaking english at my bank then Dutch. If you speak with even a slight accent people answer you in English sometimes out of pure politeness. As an English speaker not only does *everyone* speak English, but they often reply in English when you speak Dutch, and I even had a special person with a learning disability speaking English to me. English is taught in schools from the same year they start teaching Dutch (i.e. the first year), and it's quite funny to actually see Dutch people correct Brits on their English because they are actually taught the language properly.

        Yeah there is a difference between England and The Netherlands when it comes to language. The Dutch speak better English.

        • and it's quite funny to actually see Dutch people correct Brits on their English because they are actually taught the language properly.

          I'm sure that goes over really well. Try it with a Texan sometime.

  • by mccalli ( 323026 ) on Monday December 26, 2016 @05:41AM (#53554971) Homepage
    If. Maybe. Perhaps.

    None of it has happened. None of what was predicted to happen has happened. The triggering of the article to leave hasn't happened. The negotiations haven't happened. The ratification of the negotiations haven't happened...

    Pointless.
    • As much as I don't want Brexit to happen, I do believe it will. It's sensible for companies who will suffer from Brexit - some know they will - to start making plans.

      • by mccalli ( 323026 )
        I'm certain it will. But meanwhile potential competitors are starting to make noises about how they are better, and news organisations are lapping them up as fact. They're not - this is just posturing as before. Literally nothing has happened yet - no company knows that it will. Plans should be considered for leaving the UK, plans should be considered for staying in the UK. That's pretty much it.
  • And other hundreds are moving to France, others to Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands ...

    Bankers and car manufacturers don't come into British homes.
    But the important thing is that the lower classes don't see anymore Polish plumbers, then they are content, no matter if the economy goes down the drain, the British plumber can't fix that.

  • by Computershack ( 1143409 ) on Monday December 26, 2016 @05:58AM (#53555001)

    Those who voted Remain have a vision of the big international banks in the City fleeing the nation, that is the image they were sold by Project Fear. The reality is that less than 10% of London City trading requires us to be in the EU. More than 90% of it is UK domestic and non-EU trade. EU passporting could be maintained merely by having a satellite office in Dublin with a couple of dozen staff.

    In the meantime the Dutch bank ING is actually moving staff INTO the City from Belgium [telegraph.co.uk] in case Brexit stops it being able to trade in the UK.

    • 10% of British banks maybe ...

      All the European banks (BNPP, DB, SG, DB, ING ...) moved to London City based trading HQ during the 90s for tax reason because they could also free trade to EU from there.

      Now they anticipate that within a 3 year, this "opportunity" will be gone. They've already prepared plans to withdraw from the city. You know that banks don't like incertainties, do you.

      So earlier those bank moved their activities from Amsterdam, Brussel, Frankfurt or Paris to the City ... but thanks to brexit

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