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Brexit: Now What? Part II

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McHrozni

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The previous thread was running slowly so here's a nice new shiny thread. As is usual, the split point is arbitrary and participants are free to quote from posts in the previous thread into this one.
Posted By: Agatha


The same thing has happened in other countries in ERM. Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy which are all now struggling.

You keep peddling lies, I see. That this one is especially transparent (~20 years later and in a completely different situation and all that) doesn't seem to bother you at all. Are you at least getting paid for it?

It happens because different national economies are pulling in different directions, growing / shrinking at different rates and one size does not fit all.

Any economy with more than one actor has the exact same features. This is one of the stupidest anti-EMU arguments out there. Of course this is a problem. This will always be a problem, unless each economic actor uses his own currency.

That would be somewhat unwieldy to say the least.

Monetary union cannot work well without political and tax union (like we've have had in the UK for centuries).
And whilst the EU desires political and tax union, it's not quite there yet and has lost the popular argument for a federalised European superstate.

It lost the popular argument for the time being, mostly due to lies, like that "democratic deficit" nonsense or "unelected European bureaucrats" lie that you simply adore.

Winning a popular argument through lies is not an argument against something.

McHrozni
 
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You keep peddling lies,
What lies ?
I see. That this one is especially transparent (~20 years later and in a completely different situation and all that) doesn't seem to bother you at all. Are you at least getting paid for it?


So now you're saying Ireland, Italy, Portugal Greece and Spain are not struggling ?

Any economy with more than one actor has the exact same features.
No, the country is the 'actor'.
Every national economy has a common tax system, common interest rates, common inflation level.

Tied to another economy with a different tax system, different interest rates, different minimum wage system, different growth and a different inflation level ERM can't work.

This is one of the stupidest anti-EMU arguments out there.
No, yours is one of the stupidest PRO EMU arguments out there.

Of course this is a problem. This will always be a problem, unless each economic actor uses his own currency.

That would be somewhat unwieldy to say the least.

Each 'actor' is a nation state with it's own laws, growth rates and inflation. It makes perfect sense for each nation state to have it's own currency.

It lost the popular argument for the time being, mostly due to lies,

like that "democratic deficit"
EU Parliament is a scrutinising house, not a policy proposing house. They cannot put forward private members bills to propose policy the way MPs can. There's no cabinet of elected MEPs to govern either.
nonsense or "unelected European bureaucrats" lie that you simply adore.
EU Commissioners are appointed not elected, so what lie ?

You're the one lying. [sarcasm]are you getting paid for it?[/sarcasm]

Winning a popular argument through lies is not an argument against something.

McHrozni

Lying is not an argument against something, this is correct, so stop lying.
 
This is interesting. I linked you to an FT article which gave all the quotes, and even cut a bit out for you to save you chasing down the article. I've given you the evidence - why are you so desperate to pretend it doesn't exist? Curious.

Or the less curious explanation is that I missed your reply where you linked to the article. But it's behind a paywall anyway and the bit you quoted doesn't actually provide what Carney said about what would happen and when.

The reason I ask is that every quote I have seen from Carney talked about what would happen post-Brexit and we haven't Brexited yet. Now he might well have made predictions about what would happen immediately after the vote but in that case I'd like to see exactly what he said and not what the press say he said or what you say he said because these things are often not the same.

I have outlined my argument quite clearly. You are going to considerable lengths not to understand it. It really isn't terribly difficult to follow.

It's not difficult to follow, it's difficult to extract a thread of logic from them.

People asked for examples of failed expert predictions.

I provided an expert prediction, a direct claim from Carney with a credible reference (the FT) of him saying it.

I observed this didn't appear to be the case from anecdotal evidence. However, I've since got more evidence - a list of mortgage rate cuts from lenders (graphic courtesy of Szu Ping Chan)
[qimg]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Crwh2jxW8AI6Ef5.jpg:large[/qimg]

I wasn't disputing that the bank dropped the base rate or that mortgage rates have dropped as a result.

So we now have clear and unambiguous evidence of a project fear "expert" prediction which was utterly wrong. This isn't an isolated example, but if remainers are in denial over this one clear and well evidenced example then I don't see much point in continuing discussion. You are immune to actual evidence.

If it's not an isolated incident then you should be able to provide say ... 4? ... examples?

And I've yet to see this clear unambiguous evidence so I'll hold off on agreeing with you until I do.

You really don't understand the concept of models, do you? Yes of course things can have long lasting effect. But those effects are not meaningfully predictable by a model. This is not controversial amongst the scientific / mathematical community.

It seems its you who doesn't understand the concept of models. I used to build them for a living so I think I have some understanding.

Perhaps you are getting confused between the purpose of a scientific/mathematical model and a financial/economic model. They are not really the same. Prediction is not the main goal of those kind of models if by prediction you mean comparing say the interest rate in Dec 2025 with the forecast and expecting to be spot on.

No, this is a simple error on your part. This only applies to linear systems, where effects can be separated in the way you describe. It does not apply to non-linear systems like the economy.

No, it doesn't. Effects will be there regardless of whether they can be separated or isolated or not.

To give a very simple illustration. If I quit my job then I can predict that in 2 years time my income from that job will be $0. And that, in the absence of other factors, my household income will be much lower than it would be if I didn't make that decision.

That 'prediction' is very reliable beyond 6 months.

Of course there are other factors at play that will influence my income over the coming years - will I apply for a new job, how the market, what skills do i have, what will the economy do generally etc etc.

All of these can be examined in a number of scenarios under different assumptions and the model will churn out the sausage from the machine. There will be some things not included in the model.

Now if you look at my income in 2018 and I have a $1m a year job as the CEO of Economic Modelling Inc it doesn't make my original prediction wrong or useless.

Arguing over the results of a model is a pointless exercise. The only thing worth arguing about are the assumptions that go into it. And anyone who builds a model knows it's wrong from the start. It's not supposed to be right. It's supposed to inform decision making, be indicative of impacts and likely sensitivities etc.

Of course, the further from the model builder the information gets the less this is understood or communicated effectively and the more people just focus on the prediction as the 'answer'


Ah, I've got it! The argument of bizarre absolute guy:
Bizarre Absolute Guy

Seriously, is this supposed to be a sceptics forum? Three to six month ahead predictions are actually quite useful, for example, when objectively attempting to manage inflation through monetary policy. But not according to bizarre absolute guy! Wow.

Sorry but nobody makes economic decisions on a 3-6 month timeframe of impact assessment. It probably takes 3-6 months from building the model to actually implementing the decision and the effects are usually supposed to be long term.

Incidentally it's you who is taking the ridiculously absolutist position that if you can't predict the economy in a years team precisely then all models are useless. And therefore we should vote for Farage and Bojo because something something, presumably?

What information did you have prior to the vote to show that Carney was incorrect and should be ignored? Otherwise you are just arguing from hindsight.
 
What lies ?

The ones I cited, obviously.

So now you're saying Ireland, Italy, Portugal Greece and Spain are not struggling ?

Of course they're struggling. But if your lies were facts, they would've struggled when UK had problems with ERM. They're struggling about 20 years later, at least in some cases due to very obvious and very severe missteps that had nothing to do with EU. You explicitly mentioned Greece, which is struggling because of severely bad policy choices coupled with fraudulent accounting. Neither was caused by EU, yet it features prominently on your list. You were told this before, yet you still peddle it, and have the nerve to ask "what lies" are you peddling. Do you think we're all idiots or something?

No, the country is the 'actor'.

Yeah, in in Sid Meyers' Civilization that's actually true. The real world is a little bit different however - for example, if your postulate were true, all regions of all national governments would always have the same per capita GDP, which is so utterly false I can't describe it in under fifty words, some of which would be rather rude.

If your levels of understanding matters is this limited it's no wonder you support a whole set of silly things.

Every national economy has a common tax system, common interest rates, common inflation level.

Now you're getting just plain silly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_Tax#Geographic_variation

This isn't true even in the UK, supposedly the country without such issues. EMU has common interest rates, whereas inflation is obviously different if you calculate it for different regions of any country or region - or else the same asset, product or service would always cost the same anywhere, which it does not.

Tied to another economy with a different tax system, different interest rates, different minimum wage system, different growth and a different inflation level ERM can't work.

ERM is a little bit more than "let's all have the same currency" that you seem to think it is. It involves harmonization of laws to the point where such differences are minimized.

Each 'actor' is a nation state with it's own laws, growth rates and inflation. It makes perfect sense for each nation state to have it's own currency.

Of course the system can work when each nation state has it's own currency. No one is arguing against that. You need to argue monetary unions don't work. Thus far you tried hard to prove national currencies can't work, then asserted it makes perfect sense that they work. Great job! :D:thumbsup:

By the way, the difference between teh GDP of Western Isles and London is bigger than the difference between UK and Poland.

Cherry on the cake: you're calling me stupid. :rolleyes:

EU Parliament is a scrutinising house, not a policy proposing house. They cannot put forward private members bills to propose policy the way MPs can.

So according to you the issue is that EU parliament doesn't have enough strength, and you consider this an argument against a political union? :boggled:

There's no cabinet of elected MEPs to govern either.

There is no cabinet of elected ministers on a national level either.

EU Commissioners are appointed not elected, so what lie ?

EU Commissioners perform a function most reminiscent of ministers in a government.

Please provide me with a list of ministers elected in the UK for that post in the past 10 years. If you can't the issue is obviously not EU, but that you fundamentally disagree with the modern system of government, but only apply that standard to the EU, because reasons.

Like your position, most of your arguments are downright bizarre.

McHrozni
 
Was it deliberate or accidental that you missed the point about inflation ?

Whether you like it or not, all members of the UK cabinet are elected MPs.
The party with the most MPs forms a government. That's how UK democracy works.
Obviously as mentioned before the system could do with improvement (an elected upper house and proportional representation would be good improvements), but it's a damn sight better than the model used by the EU.

If you want an exhaustive list of elected MPs who became ministers (and sometimes ministers who lost their job following an election, Chris Pattern being a famous one from the 1990's), we'll be here till the cows come home.
 
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Was it deliberate or accidental that you missed the point about inflation ?

Interestingly, you completely ignored all points that I made, and only tried to comment on the one which you ... missed, apparently.

For your convenience, from my earlier post:
EMU has common interest rates, whereas inflation is obviously different if you calculate it for different regions of any country or region - or else the same asset, product or service would always cost the same anywhere, which it does not.

The most obvious case in this are hose prices, which are always reported based on the city or region. If the inflation was the same for all regions we wouldn't do that. The same dynamics are at play everywhere, but they are not as critical to the economy, so we lump them together under a single indicator.

You concede all other points, I take it? Problems with EMU, interest rates, different growth rates, laws ... you agree you were wrong on all of those counts, yes?

Whether you like it or not, all members of the UK cabinet are elected MPs.
The party with the most MPs forms a government. That's how UK democracy works.

Like it or not, that's also how the European parliament works. Supposedly one is good (but could use improvement) but the other is broken. Strange, that.

If you want an exhaustive list of elected MPs who became ministers (and sometimes ministers who lost their job following an election, Chris Pattern being a famous one from the 1990's), we'll be here till the cows come home.

No, I want a list of ministers who were elected to the position of that ministry by the electorate. That's the standard you use for European Parliament, so it's obviously something that needs to already exist in UK, right?

McHrozni
 
EU Parliament is a scrutinising house, not a policy proposing house. They cannot put forward private members bills to propose policy the way MPs can.
It's a bit more nuanced:
The Commission has the legislative initiative. However, under the Treaty of Maastricht enhanced by the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament has a right of legislative initiative that allows it to ask the Commission to submit a proposal.
Indeed, the EP does not have an unrestrictive right of legislative initiative, like nearly every other parliament in the world, but it does have the right to ask the Commission make a bill, and it also has the unrestricted right of amendment of bills.

There's no cabinet of elected MEPs to govern either.
You really shouldn't compare everything with the UK. The fact that British ministers are also MPs is an anomaly when viewed on world scale, and it's a violation of Montesquieu's Trias Politica. The fact that your little democracy seems to get by fine despite this merger of executive and legislative does not mean it should be the yardstick for everyone else.

EU Commissioners are appointed not elected, so what lie ?
My (Dutch) PM and ministers are also appointed, by the King, and not elected. American cabinet members are also appointed, by the President, and not elected. And in both cases, they have to be scrutinized by Parliament, just as the EU Commissioners. And come to think of it, your PM is also appointed by the Queen in that role.

Look, if you want to argue that the EU is not (yet) a perfect democracy, fine. But it's getting there and every change since in 1979 MEPs got directly elected has been for the better. And that without bloodshed, unlike your attempts at constitutional reform, such as Simon de Montfort's Parliament, the Civil War and the Glorious Revolution, which spans some 800 years.
 
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Wrong now and wrong for every cabinet since 1902 if not earlier.

I'm sure Airfix has had this explained to him before in this thread.
I don't think there's ever been a Cabinet that was wholly MPs.
 
I'm sure Airfix has had this explained to him before in this thread.

It's "that thread" now :)

It's funny that he also doesn't know what are the lies he's peddling, yet we find more every minute :)

McHrozni
 
Dial down the "lies" accusations, please. Be civil and polite.
Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: Agatha
 
Wrong now and wrong for every cabinet since 1902 if not earlier.
You're thinking of Lords being appointed minister? I agree, however, the more important point is what McHrozni raised:

No, I want a list of ministers who were elected to the position of that ministry by the electorate. That's the standard you use for European Parliament, so it's obviously something that needs to already exist in UK, right?
No-one in the UK gets elected to be a minister. They're appointed to that role (the PM by the Queen, and the other ministers by the PM). And even in the choice of PM, the electorate often doesn't get a say. While it's tradition that the leader of the majority party gets the post, the electorate didn't have a say in the appointment of Callaghan, Major, Brown or May to the post of PM. And that's only in the last 40 years.
 
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Look, if you want to argue that the EU is not (yet) a perfect democracy, fine.

A) Yes, it's not a perfect democracy it may be a bit better than it was but it is still hugely flawed.
B) All we need from it is trade.
C) Membership forbids countries from having their own bilateral free trade deals and we had to give up free trade with the 52 other Commonwealth countries in order to be part of this club, not only that, the rules required us to impose customs tariffs on goods from them.
 
B) All we need from it is trade.

Define "need". Arguably you don't "need" anything from EU. You just want it because you want to live in a free and prospers society, in which case the trade is useful, but so is everything else from EU.

C) Membership forbids countries from having their own bilateral free trade deals and we had to give up free trade with the 52 other Commonwealth countries in order to be part of this club, not only that, the rules required us to impose customs tariffs on goods from them.

EU totally isn't ahead of you on this one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_free_trade#/media/File:EU_free_trade_agreements.PNG

If you want free trade with Commonwealth, you'll get it sooner as a member of the EU.

McHrozni
 
Or the less curious explanation is that I missed your reply where you linked to the article. But it's behind a paywall anyway and the bit you quoted doesn't actually provide what Carney said about what would happen and when.
Of course not, because that FT article does not contain any such thing. Mostly, it is about a spat between Carney and Rees-Mogg.
 
Ok I'll refine what I said about trade.
Buying and selling internationally generates revenue for businesses.
The best thing about the EU is that it did away with customs tariffs between member countries so that companies costs came down and profits went up.

We had free trade with the Commonwealth. We've been without it for over 40 years.
Our trade beyond the EU is going up despite tariffs, it would do even better without tariffs.

Countries which are able to do their own bilateral free trade deals seem to get deals much faster than the EU does.
CETA for example still has not been ratified, but Switzerland and Canada have had a free trade agreement in place for more than seven and a half years.
 
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Countries which are able to do their own bilateral free trade deals seem to get deals much faster than the EU does.
CETA for example still has not been ratified, but Switzerland and Canada have had a free trade agreement in place for more than seven and a half years.

Really? Let's look at CETA:
CETA is Canada's biggest bilateral initiative since NAFTA. It was hatched as a result of a joint study "Assessing the Costs and Benefits of a Closer EU-Canada Economic Partnership"[3] which was released in October 2008. Officials announced the launch of negotiations on 6 May 2009 at the Canada-EU Summit in Prague.
The negotiations were concluded in 2014.

And then the Canada-EFTA free trade agreement:
In 1999, Canada entered into free trade negotiations with the EFTA. Negotiations concluded successfully in June 2007, and the FTA between Canada and the EFTA States was signed on January 26, 2008. Bilateral Agreements on Agriculture between Canada and each EFTA State were appended to the CEFTA. Both came into effect on July 1, 2009.
So that's 10 years from start of negotiations to coming into effect. We're not yet there at the 10 years deadline with CETA. :rolleyes: And the EFTA negotiations cost 9 years, whereas the EU negotiations only cost 5 years.
 
Ok I'll refine what I said about trade.
Buying and selling internationally generates revenue for businesses.
The best thing about the EU is that it did away with customs tariffs between member countries so that companies costs came down and profits went up.

We had free trade with the Commonwealth. We've been without it for over 40 years.
Our trade beyond the EU is going up despite tariffs, it would do even better without tariffs.

If you remain in EU, you'll get trade with the Commonwealth sooner than if you leave. Plus you'll loose what you call the best thing about EU.

I struggle to see how you can construct anything positive for Brexit from this.

Countries which are able to do their own bilateral free trade deals seem to get deals much faster than the EU does.
CETA for example still has not been ratified, but Switzerland and Canada have had a free trade agreement in place for more than seven and a half years.

ddt answered this rather well :)

McHrozni
 
[Look, if you want to argue that the EU is not (yet) a perfect democracy, fine. But it's getting there and every change since in 1979 MEPs got directly elected has been for the better. And that without bloodshed, unlike your attempts at constitutional reform, such as Simon de Montfort's Parliament, the Civil War and the Glorious Revolution, which spans some 800 years.
You've forgotten the contribution to British democracy made by the 1707 Union of the English and Scottish Parliaments. Here's how the representative aspect of that was managed.
An election was not held immediately after the Union because the establishment feared a possible landslide victory for the anti-Union Commissioners. Instead 45 Commissioners were hand-picked to represent the whole country ... as the first MPs from Scotland. 43 of these hand-picked representatives were pro-Union.​
There were 154 members in the pre-Union Scottish Parliament which assembled in 1703. In Westminster the numbers were 1707 - 45; 1832 - 53; 1868 - 60; 1885-1997 - 72.
 
The best thing about the EU is that it did away with customs tariffs between member countries so that companies costs came down and profits went up.

How have you determined that this is the 'best thing'?

It's a good thing. But so has been the elimination of transaction costs in a number of areas. Standardisation of laws has helped businesses. Free movement of people has helped.

And of course like any other union it places some restrictions on its members to prevent them going off and doing their own thing and defeating the main point of being in a union in the first place.

One of the points, if not the whole point, of the EU was to try to move away from individual member countries trying to outdo each other at every turn and look for ways to co-operate that benefit everyone.

That seems to be the concept that you have a problem with based on pretty much all of your objections. You still view everything as the UK vs the EU.
 
If you remain in EU, you'll get trade with the Commonwealth sooner than if you leave. Plus you'll loose what you call the best thing about EU.

The EU hasn't got a free trade agreement with the Commonwealth, isn't seeking one with the whole lot, just the bigger economies in it.
And now we're out the Commonwealth can become a 53 nation free trade association so that all members of the Commonwealth can enjoy tariff free trade. We can do more to help poorer countries become more prosperous.

We've voted to leave the vote is cast, the wheels are in motion, the government is preparing for Brexit.
We're not remaining. We're leaving.

The thread this one has been split from began as a question; "what next?"
In answer to the I suggested rejoining EFTA and turning the Commonwealth back into a free trade association.

I struggle to see how you can construct anything positive for Brexit from this.

Self governance.

The ability to provide state aid without seeking Commission permission.

Freedom from vast swathes of EU directives including the Bolkstein directive and the first railways directive.

The ability to negotiate free trade agreements that work in Britain's interests, rather than cobbling on the requirements of Bulgaria, Poland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, France etc.

Tax freedom. We won't be bound by the EU VAT directive of 2006, so that in emergency situations like that of 2008, VAT can be massively slashed for a temporary period to stimulate growth instead of the minor cut in VAT to 15% that we saw, it could be cut to any level including 1% if we wished to.

We will never be part of the EU's military plans so when and IF the EU fully integrates the militaries of the remaining members, we'll be fully independent and will retain the right to military and diplomatic neutrality.

And we'll no longer have to stump up the £8.5bn a year (post rebate) membership fee.

A vote to remain in the EU was not a vote for the status quo, the EU is in a state of flux, it is an evolving federalist project.
The public have rejected membership and I am glad.
 
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You're thinking of Lords being appointed minister? I agree, however, the more important point is what McHrozni raised:


No-one in the UK gets elected to be a minister. They're appointed to that role (the PM by the Queen, and the other ministers by the PM). And even in the choice of PM, the electorate often doesn't get a say. While it's tradition that the leader of the majority party gets the post, the electorate didn't have a say in the appointment of Callaghan, Major, Brown or May to the post of PM. And that's only in the last 40 years.

The bottom line IMO , counting the house of lord, the EU is more democratic than the bUK government system.
 
Bottom line, is that the EU was given a chance to reform.
It never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity to reform.

They've still got an EU foreign policy chief, they've still got an attached military staff.
There is still an EU Maritime Force, the Eurocorps and a European Gendarmerie Force.

I don't want those sort of things.

I want Britain to reserve a right of military neutrality. That could not have been guaranteed if we'd remained and been outvoted under the EU's Qualified Majority Voting system.
 
And now we're out the Commonwealth can become a 53 nation free trade association so that all members of the Commonwealth can enjoy tariff free trade. We can do more to help poorer countries become more prosperous.*

You want all 53 nations of the Commonwealth to have a free trade deal? Who gets to decide the terms of it? Do all 53 countries get a say in it and a veto on bits they don't like? How long will that take?
 
Yes.

Who? All 53.
Start by proposing to go back to the old terms by which everyone traded before we screwed them all in 1973.

Copies must still exist.
How long ? Dunno, but it's been done before and worked before, so lets try again.

It's got to be better than hitting developing countries with customs tariffs.
 
It's been over 40 years.
Don't you think the economic priorities of those countries might just have shifted a tad?

India springs to mind here...
 
Yes.

Who? All 53.
Start by proposing to go back to the old terms by which everyone traded before we screwed them all in 1973.

Copies must still exist.
How long ? Dunno, but it's been done before and worked before, so lets try again.

It's got to be better than hitting developing countries with customs tariffs.
Better for who? Over 20% of the commonwealth countries can currently send goods to the UK tariff free. However duties are paid to those countries when goods from the UK are sent there. A free trade agreement with those countries will leave them worse off.
 
... The best thing about the EU is that it did away with customs tariffs between member countries so that companies costs came down and profits went up.

Which is what drove EMU. In the end, practical experience showed that a total customs union can only be a point on a journey, not a destination.

Our trade beyond the EU is going up despite tariffs, it would do even better without tariffs.

Tariffs have not been raised yet. Wait for Art50 to be triggered, and even then, the EU may only raise them slowly until the ensuing 24-month exit period is over. Recent stability and optimism stems frankly from the view that the UK has only one option, which is now to be an almost-member with no vote. Quite the accomplishment.
 
Better for who? Over 20% of the commonwealth countries can currently send goods to the UK tariff free. However duties are paid to those countries when goods from the UK are sent there. A free trade agreement with those countries will leave them worse off.

Consider for a moment that when Commonwealth countries wish to sell us agricultural products, they face tariffs, whereas EU farmers do not.

Therefore a free trade agreement will leave the Commonwealth farmers better off.
 
Which is what drove EMU. In the end, practical experience showed that a total customs union can only be a point on a journey, not a destination.

In the end, people decided that it was a journey in the wrong direction.
17.41 million people have chosen a different path, despite the scaremongering and lies of David Cameron and George Osborne.

They ran such a dreadfully bad campaign I wondered whether the former PM was actually sincere about staying in or trying to use his own unpopularity to drive people into voting leave.
 
Yes.

Who? All 53.
Start by proposing to go back to the old terms by which everyone traded before we screwed them all in 1973.

Copies must still exist.
How long ? Dunno, but it's been done before and worked before, so lets try again.

It's got to be better than hitting developing countries with customs tariffs.

That is simply a brexiteer fantasy. There are around 2.4 billion people in the commonwealth. The UK would be a bit player and indeed already gets spanked regularly by the other, larger members.
 
In the end, people decided that it was a journey in the wrong direction.
17.41 million people have chosen a different path, despite the scaremongering and lies of David Cameron and George Osborne.

Actually 17.41 million people chose a variety of different paths.

Some, like you, voted to leave the EU but to still retain free trade with Europe, the free movement of people but then to extend both of those to the rest of the world. They voted to throw off the shackles of the corporatist EU in order that the UK could improve the lot of workers both at home and across the world.

Some others voted to remove ourselves from the iron grip of Europe and their pesky environmental and workers protections so that the UK economy could compete with the developing world on a level playing field.

Others still voted to leave the EU so that the £350m that was being "wasted" on the EU could instead be spent on the NHS. They are largely ambivalent about the wider implications, they just want more spending on the NHS.

Another large group are uncomfortable about the number of foreigners "over here" taking "our jobs" and would dearly love to see the back of Johnny, Jancuz, Jahangir and Gilles foreigner and get them sent back to where they belong.

.....and there are lots of other groups no doubt.

Whatever path we end up taking post-Brexit, one or more of those groups are likely to be more unhappy than if we'd stayed in the EU.
 
Can anyone who knows about Belgian politicians tell me if this appointment is indicative of strong support for the Scottish government's pro-EU stance? And if so, how that might be translated into practical effect during the Article 50 process, if and when that is ever initiated by the Theresa May administration in Westminster.
 
Consider for a moment that when Commonwealth countries wish to sell us agricultural products, they face tariffs, whereas EU farmers do not.

Therefore a free trade agreement will leave the Commonwealth farmers better off.
Consider for a moment reading my post before replying to it. Ovet
20% of the commonwealth countries pay no tarifs on exports to the whole EU. However they can charge tarrifs on Imports. How would a free trade agreement with the UK leave them better off?
 
Yes.

Who? All 53.
Start by proposing to go back to the old terms by which everyone traded before we screwed them all in 1973.

Copies must still exist.
How long ? Dunno, but it's been done before and worked before, so lets try again.

It's got to be better than hitting developing countries with customs taritffs.

51 excluding Cyprus and Malta I presume?

Car workers might not have jobs but they can benefit from Vanuatan copra imports tax free!

Werent you railing against the carbon footprint of imports a few days ago?
 
That is simply a brexiteer fantasy. There are around 2.4 billion people in the commonwealth. The UK would be a bit player and indeed already gets spanked regularly by the other, larger members.

Not true.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_states_of_the_Commonwealth_of_Nations

Larger countries by population maybe, but not economically.
We're the fifth largest economy in the world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

There are no larger members in the Commonwealth economically.
It is in their interests to have as much access to our market on a tariff free basis as possible.
 
51 excluding Cyprus and Malta I presume?

Car workers might not have jobs but they can benefit from Vanuatan copra imports tax free!

Werent you railing against the carbon footprint of imports a few days ago?

Depends on the import / export.
Biofuels for example are a growth industry and do not damage the environment the way that conventional fuels do.
Solar and wind energy systems are also better for the environment.

Where would the harm be in those ?
 
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Depends on the import / export.
Biofuels for example are a growth industry and do not damage the environment the way that conventional fuels do.
Solar and wind energy systems are also better for the environment.

Where would the harm be in those ?

Last I checked biofuels were fairly horrible in their impact in a load of areas. Farmers switch to growing fuel crops at the expense of food then the stuff is shipped around the world

Im not sure there are solar manufacturers left in the commonwealth which is dominated by China. For wind its not far off the same story for the commonwealth. I guess theres Suzlon but you dont need me to tell you about working conditions in Indian factories.

Oh and google the rare earth metals used in the magnets for many wind generators and their environmental impact in terms of extracting them.

In any case these can be sourced from europe which saves significant transport carbon.

You seem to be advocating switching to the exploitation of poor countries again as we did in the days of Empire.
 
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