Siemens promises UK investment despite Brexit warning

Siemens's chief Joe Kaeser said the UK remained a "good place to do business"

German industrial giant Siemens has said it will continue to invest in the UK, despite earlier warnings that a vote to leave the EU could affect its future activities in the country.

Siemens chief executive Joe Kaeser told a number of media organisations that the company remained fully committed to manufacturing in the UK.

The company has 13 plants in the UK and employs about 14,000 people.

Siemens UK had warned investment could be hit if the UK voted to leave the EU.

The engineering and technology giant manufactures and exports high value goods including MRI scanners and gas turbines.

At an event at the House of Commons, Mr Kaeser said the UK continued to matter and be a "good place to do business" whether it was inside or outside the EU.

But he called on Theresa May to clarify the UK's trade position as soon as possible to give business some certainty.

Trade barriers

Ahead of the referendum, the company was vocal in expressing its fears about the negative effects of Brexit.

In the spring, it told its workforce that increased costs and uncertainty caused by the UK leaving the EU could make the UK a less attractive country to do business in.

The giant conglomerate also warned that its plans to export wind turbine blades from a new facility in Hull were being put on hold.

The £310m manufacturing hub in the city will employ about 1,000 people.

The company has insisted this investment will continue and will be used to meet local demand, but Mr Kaeser said new trade barriers could make it uneconomical to export the blades to Denmark and Germany.

The company's links with the UK go back 170 years.