Looming Brexit prompts first British brand to relocate – to Germany

Poole, United Kingdom – Poole-based Lush Retail Limited, a cosmetics retailer, has announced it will move 1,400 jobs in manufacturing to Düsseldorf, Germany. This month, the German site has started supplying France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The company has openly stated that the result of the Brexit referendum has prompted them to pursue this move at the current time.

June’s popular vote to leave the European Union has severe consequences for the British economy: Companies located in the United Kingdom will lose access to the common European market once negotiations have been completed. Unless the British government agrees to pay annual access fees – something many consider doubtful, given that one of the main reasons for the Brexit majority was the sentiment the EU is receiving too much of Britain’s money.

It has long been speculated that British and international companies running operations in the UK will take this insecurity as an incentive to move abroad. Lush is the first to turn this speculation into reality. The move represents a blow to Britain’s new premier Theresa May, who has pledged to rebuild Britain’s industry, an economic sector crippled to this day by Thatcherism. Meanwhile, Germany remains the center of European industrial production. In 2015, 200 new production plants were opened in Bavaria alone.