Flybe’s spokesman, Rick O’Shea, has admitted the reasons for Flybe’s collapse, pinning the blame on Brexit:
“We saw tens of thousands of people on that march saying they would leave the country if Britain left the EU. We bought extra planes, landing slots, fuel, hired staff – and they are staying in droves. We planned to help businesses relocate to Europe as they said they would, but instead European businesses are relocating to Britain. We feel let down.”
He added “We hoped at least that Andrew Adonis would leave the country – but I think everyone did.”
Open Britain struck back at the government’s handing of the crisis: “We maintain that the referendum campaign was based on lies, and we have been justified: the Leave campaign claimed repeatedly that the economy would suffer only a temporary downturn, but in contrast we have seen constant growth. While it is true that a great many of our supporters did say they would leave Britain in the event of Brexit, that decision was based on figures provided by the Tory government forecasting economic meltdown, and that has proven to be yet another lie which must invalidate all three recent general elections.”
The government agreed to reschedule the troubled airline’s tax debt. They admitted “We are largely to blame. Under Theresa May the negotiation was handled so cackhandedly that the airline had every reason to think that Brexit would be followed by economic and political chaos, and the May government even published a paper claiming that middle class families would starve in the street, leading to a total, Hobbesian breakdown of society and descend into cannibalism. We must accept that when Boris sacked the civil servants involved and did the job properly, we upset their long-term business planning. Now the economy is shooting ahead of Europe’s, all those businesses which planned in good faith for collapse have suffered.”
Andrew Adonis was unavailable for comment, but he is believed not to have left the country. A plane is waiting for him.
