Hard Brexit a 'Horrifying' Prospect, Says Britain's Biggest Car Maker

The boss of Britain's biggest motor manufacturing business has revealed what a hard Brexit will mean for the company at a conference in Birmingham attended by Prime Minister Theresa May. 

Speaking at the British government's  Zero Emissions Vehicle Summit in Birmingham, Ralf Speth said jobs would be "shed" if only a hard Brexit deal is reached. 

"Like many British companies, our supply chains reach deep into Europe," Speth said. 

"Our supply chains reach deep into Europe. Bluntly, we will not be able to build cars if the motorway to and from Dovor becomes a car park." One in three cars exported from the UK is a Jaguar Land Rover product, the company sells 20 percent of its vehicles in the EU. 

Speth suggested delays in building cars on time to meet demand could force the company to move its headquarters from Britain to Europe. 

"What decisions we will be forced to make, if Brexit means not merely that costs go up, but that we cannot physically build cars on time and on budget in the UK?" Speth said. 

In his speech, delivered from the same lectern on the same stage just before the Prime Minister gave her speech, Ralf Speth warned Theresa May "tens of thousands" of jobs would be lost in Britain if Mrs. May doesn't "get the right deal."

More cracks are emerging in Theresa May's Brexit strategy and her leadership after it's thought a group of Conservative backbench MPs gathered under the remit of an "open revolt" to discuss the PM's position. 

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Around 50 members of the eurosceptic European Research Group (ERG), reportedly talked about "how best you game the leadership election rules," a source said. 

However, the environment secretary Michael Gove dismissed the discussions as "loose talk."