Dec 7th 2008 - Bosses warn of exodus over EU carbon cuts

7 December 2008

Tags: European elections, Brussels

Thousands of British jobs will be lost if the government signs up to EU cuts in carbon emissions, the Prime Minister has been warned. The Sunday Times reports that the bosses of three big UK chemical companies have written to Gordon Brown emphasising the danger to a £60 billion industry that provides work for up to 600,000 people in Britain. They say companies will move to other countries if they are forced to accept EU carbon caps and to pay 100% for emissions permits, as the Brussels scheme demands. The plan will make the industry uncompetitive, the bosses say, because many rival firms will not be subject to such restrictions and costs. They want chemical company permits to be given free and a reduction in the emissions limits. The paper quotes Jim Ratcliffe, head of Ineos, Britain's largest private company, as saying: “Chemical businesses situated throughout the UK, especially in the north of England and central Scotland, with 80% of them foreign-owned, will be ‘decimated’, putting almost 200,000 jobs at risk.”