Sunderland set to be one of worst areas for job losses after a no-deal Brexit, leaked government report reveals

The report, published in The Sunday Times, was put together as part of Operation Kingfisher earlier this year, and shows 29 of the 33 worst hit places also voted to Leave.

As well as Sunderland, they include Carlisle, York, and Harrogate in the North and Oxford, Cheltenham and Yeovil in the South, all areas heavily dependent on manufacturing.

A total of 29 out of 33 of them voted to Leave the EU in 2016.

The report follows a warning from Nissan’s European Chairman Gianluca de Ficchy this week that the firm’s European business plan would be ‘unsustainable’ and a letter from leading manufacturing bodies condemning the proposal as ‘a serious risk to manufacturing competitiveness’ that would result in ‘huge new costs and disruption to UK firms.’

Sunderland Central MP Julie Elliott said the report underlined the need for another Brexit referendum: “People did not vote for this,” she said.

“People did not vote to be made poorer or to lose their jobs. It is a thousand miles from what was promised in 2016 and the good people of these towns, cities and regions deserve so much more. But of course, Johnson does not care about them.”

“If he did, he would not have developed a proposal that is even worse than Theresa May’s. He would not be seeking to put forward a deal set to cost every single person thousands and even more their jobs, that will see wages shrink alongside our economy and our standing in the world.”

“The truth is Brexit was never for the working class. It was never for those who care about each other or about community or about our country. It was those on the right of the Tory party. The rich, who could make money gambling on our country’s instability, and the reckless, who know that regardless of what happens, they will be OK.”

“That is why this must go back to the people for the final say. To give them the chance, given what we know now, to think again.”