| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Reply | |
| Posted by: | T P Howell | |
| Date/Time: | 19/10/19 00:21:00 |
| We do 40%+ plus of our trade with the EU. But we do another 40% plus of our trade with third (non EU) countries with whom we enjoy favourable trade deals because of our membership of the EU. So our EU membership supports over three quarters of our trade. Those favourable terms will be lost on any Brexit. EU membership is no restriction on exporting to the rest of the World. Germany is the World's second largest exporter of manufactured goods. There is nothing we can do outside the EU that we can't do as a member. The idea that we can go of and negotiate better trade deals outside the EU than we can jointly with our EU partners is cloud cuckoo land. Or that the US will give us any sort of trade deal at all without taking its pound of flesh. The sad fact is that the rest of the World no longer takes us seriously anymore after we have made such fools of ourselves over Brexit. There is a phrase that prevails through economic analysis: "all other things being equal". I.e. it is possible to make reasonably precise judgements on any given course of action compared with another course, if all other factors remain unchanged. So the nub of it is that we should compare remaining in the UK with leaving. We can use all of our entrepreneurial energies as a country to far better effect if we remain in the EU. This, on any objective analysis, is beyond any doubt. So I don't want "do okay". I want our country to be in the best possible position to succeed. And that is inside the EU. |