With our website now up and running, this is a good opportunity to provide an initial update on what has been happening since the Changing Lanes project started at the end of May 2019.
David Bailey, together with Alex De Ruyter, Neil Fowler and John Mair, edited Keeping the Wheels on the Road: UK Auto Post Brexit, a book published in collaboration with the Birmingham City University Centre for Brexit Studies. The book gives a concise overview of the various issues raised by Brexit for the UK auto sector. At just 82 pages, but with ten chapters written by academics, consultants, experts from the car industry, politicians, journalists, union leaders, and people from non-profit organizations, this book is a quick and very insightful read for anyone interested in this topic. (The book can be bought on Amazon.)
David Bailey also participated in writing a report, Regional Transport – a supply chain mapping exercise and Brexit exposure check of automotive, aerospace and rail value dependency in the WMCA region. This was lead by Professor Alex de Ruyter at the Centre for Brexit Studies at Birmingham City University. The report is based on original research the looks in detail at the effects of Brexit on the West Midlands transportation sector, and covers issues such as disruption to logistics, potential job losses, possible policies to mitigate these negative impacts, and others. (It can be downloaded here.)
Since Ivan Rajic joined as Research Associate, the Changing Lanes project has also produced a report, Manufacturing and Brexit, for UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE). The report looks at ten areas where Brexit will affect UK manufacturers, and provides some suggestions for industrial policy that can mitigate the negative impacts. (The report can be downloaded on the UKICE website here.)
Based on all of the above, we have provided evidence to the Birmingham City Council Economy and Skills Oversight and Scrutiny Committee, the West Midlands Combined Authority Brexit Commission, the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, and the House of Lords EU Goods Sub-Committee "Beyond tariffs: facilitating future UK-EU trade in manufactured goods inquiry". (Further details are available on the Policy page of our website.)
David Bailey has also been providing expert commentary on the UK automotive industry and Brexit, through over 700 media interviews, authored articles, blog posts, as well as talks at various business and trade union forums. (More details are available on our Media and other engagement page.)
On the academic side, Professor Bailey had a visiting professorship at the University of South Adelaide during the summer of 2019, as an expert on the automotive industry. The project has also produced a number of academic book chapters and journal articles. (You can see the details on our Academic outputs page.)
Going forward, we will be providing regular news updates, so check our website regulary.