Whilst the vast majority of industry leaders have been pretty damning about Brexit and what it means for the manufacturing industries in the UK, vacuum cleaner magnate Sir James Dyson has been bucking the trend since before the referendum result was announced last June. As we linger on the cusp of Article 50 being triggered, he has doubled down on his optimism, suggesting that UK businesses should focus on developing trading relations with countries outside of Europe in a post-Brexit Britain. The titular founder of Dyson has said is remains “enormously optimistic” about trading with the rest of the world after the UK leaves the EU, particularly in expanding markets such as Asia.
In an interview with the BBC earlier this week, the billionaire and prominent Brexiteer, whose company recently reported a 41% increase in profits to £631 million, said: “Europe's only 15% of the global market and the really fast-expanding markets are in the Far East. I'm enormously optimistic because looking outwards to the rest of the world is very, very important because that's the fast-growing bit.” He might be missing the wood for the trees, but he personally has benefitted greatly from Far East trade in recent times, with sales of Dyson products seeing a sales growth of 244% in China, 266% in Indonesia and 200% in the Philippines in recent years.
Referring to himself as a “patriot,” Dyson also emphasised the importance of “reconnecting with the Commonwealth” when it comes to trade, as well as “staying friends” with Europe. He also rejected the suggestion that EU staff could be forced to leave the UK, saying it was “absolute nonsense to suggest countries are going to chuck out foreign citizens.” It might seem like he wants to have his cake and eat it (a common symptom of Brexit fever it appears), but you have to at least admire is optimism. Right?
Dyson's comments follow the opening in February of the first Dyson research and development (R&D) centre outside of the UK in Singapore. The company is also set to open a new multimillion-pound research centre in Wiltshire, England and a university at its existing Malmesbury campus in the Cotswolds with the aim of tackling the UK’s engineering skills gap.
