Archive link for those of us in the customs union.
Uh oh 😳. It’s Wes Streeting whom we all hate because of NHS. But he wants us to rejoin the Custom’s Union. Fuck! How do we choose? Will it be a path to rejoining or will it be in fighting and dogma? 🫠😜.
A customs union (as opposed to a free trade area) would require us to allow the EU to control what external tariffs we set, that would effectively make Chinese and American goods a lot more expensive.
And given how much China and the US are our friends, that would just be terrible.
Oh no, we’d buy more stuff more Europe, how terrible. Then it’ll have to get shipped locally: the terror!!!
And then European businesses and consumers might start buying from the UK again! That will not stand!!
Spiking the cost of living is generally a bad thing 🤓
You’re happy to increase the price of pretty much everything, so a few rich people can buy overpriced German cars slightly cheaper?
More than half of all U.K. imports come from the EU. That’s AFTER Brexit, so lower compared to what it was before.
Only 13% of UK imports come from the US. 7% from China. Even combined it’s less than half of EU imports.
You’ve got your numbers flipped around mate.
There are many affordable goods that can be bought from countries that aren’t the US or China. I actually think I would rather buy things that aren’t from the US or China. Both of those countries don’t seem to like Europe or the UK very much.
Increasing our trade with Europe (whether it’s with a customs union or some other measure) would be good for two reasons:
- It would grow the British economy, create more good jobs, increase wages, and increase the amount of money raised in taxes for public services
- It would annoy Brexiteers
The UK specialises in services exports, which are unaffected by a customs union.
Perhaps the EU should become less protectionist, it might help their stagnant economic performance.
I don’t know if the right solution is a customs union, or participation in some areas of the single market, or something else. I just read that the UK’s post-Brexit arrangements “will reduce long-run productivity by 4 per cent relative to remaining in the EU”, so presumably if we boost trade with Europe in certain ways, it should increase British productivity
Returning to common law for regulations more than offsets an annual 0.26% loss of productivity.
And the UK’s productivity problems occured while in the EU anyway.
I linked to the OBR and I find their statements interesting because they’re saying the UK’s productivity will be 4% lower than if the UK remained in the EU. You say the UK had productivity problems while the UK was in the EU. Let’s assume for a second that’s true. Then what the OBR is saying is that there is an additional factor negatively affecting British productivity; that factor is Brexit.
Also I think closer ties with Europe would be good because a united Europe can more effectively stand up to big global powers like the US, Russia, and China. I don’t want to see the UK bending over backwards to accommodate Trump and his illiberal colleagues. Europe together has real weight to push back against the US. E.g. if the UK alone were to tariff American goods then it wouldn’t affect the US too much, but if all of Europe did the same thing together, it would affect the US much more.
It’s a negative forecast based on a loss of comparative advantage in polluting, carbon heavy, low margin goods trade. They factor no increase of competitive advantage in low carbon, low polluting, high margin services exports.
Services exports are up 75% since 2016.
They are not great forecasters.
I don’t know how they came up with their numbers but media outlets seem to be confident quoting their figures. Also I found this written by a Tory who was an MP and is now in the House of Lords:
The latest estimates are that Brexit reduced GDP by 6 to 8 per cent by 2025, with business investment down 12 to 18 per cent.
If I were to see news articles saying that Brexit is having a fantastically positive effect on the British economy then maybe I’ll look at Brexit as being somewhat beneficial. But I haven’t seen that. Also like I said, I think having close ties with Europe can have some benefits beyond just easing international trade. It means Europe together can stand up against big countries who dislike Europe and want to harm Europe.
Maybe we won’t agree though. I guess you think Brexit is going to be a good thing for the UK in the long-term? I guess I’m not so convinced about that.
Yes, another bullshit doppleganger model commissioned by a politician. Maybe investigate this crap before posting it as fact. Meanwhile the UK is still performing exactly the same as its real dopplegangers, France and Germany.
The benefit of leaving the EU is being out of the environmental disasters that are the common agriculture and fishing policies, not whether Doris from Devon can still sell 4 pieces of cheese a week.
0.29% of UK companies stopped exporting. Big deal.
