Thomas Cook latest airline to fall foul of Brexit uncertainty betraying British industries
The Liberal Democrats have warned that Brexit uncertainty is sealing the fate of British industries already under pressure following the collapse of three major airlines since 2016.
Thomas Cook's collapse follows UK airlines Monarch and flybmi who also ceased operations.
In a joint statement, Liberal Democrat MEP Jane Brophy and Manchester Lib Dem Leader John Leech said:
“As with other fallen airlines like Monarch and flybmi, Thomas Cook has been struggling for months against a backdrop of Brexit uncertainty. Clearly there are other issues that have played a part in these airlines' collapse. But can Government officials honestly say that Brexit did not play a part in this, or that they themselves couldn’t have acted sooner?
“The Civil Aviation Authority is clearly working hard to get people home in the short-term, and they should be supported and congratulated for those efforts.
“But the real tragedy here is the nearly 22,000 jobs, and 3,000 in Greater Manchester alone that have been lost. The knock-on effects of that are devastating. Hard-working people who have dedicated their working lives to this company deserve answers and reassurance that lessons will be learnt to prevent this from happening again."
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1 comment:
Brexit is a factor in the demise of Thomas Cook but it's not the only factor. Brexit has led led to a fall in the pound against the dollar and the euro, which is almost at parity with the pound. Travel agents have to pay in euro's to book hotels in places like Manorca, so it becomes more expensive because of the exchange rate.
The biggest problem for Thomas Cook wasn't Brexit, but its level of indebtedness which the CEO's had not got on top of despite being paid millions in pay and bonuses over the last five years. Neither the government or banks were prepared to bail them out so they went bust. This is bad news for the workers at Thomas Cook and hoteliers in places like Spain -in the short term - but good news for rival competitors and those hedge funds that were 'shorting' the share price of Thomas Cook.
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