Did you listen to the Politics Show this morning on BBC1? Nigel Farage was on with some Tory chap who put up the argument that the most important reason for not leaving the EU was that we do 40% of our trade with them. NO ONE mentioned how much WE buy from the EU or that it was ridiculous to think that we would lose ALL that trade and anyway there would be other markets. Perhaps someone should tell this to Farage in a forceful way! This trade argument is rubbish.
I did not watch this Ken but:
I would add that because of the unlevel playing field (Siemens for instance operate scams (talk to those who used to work at Oxford Magnets – now owned by Siemens) ) there is a cumulative negative imbalance to us.
The regulations and external tarrifs imposed and foolishly implemented by us hamper trade with the rest of the world. The fact that our trade with the rest of the world is only 60% can be put down to this – outside of the EU this figure would surely increase dramatically.
Perhaps the Tory EU-enthusiast also did not realise that a lot of the 40% claimed is actually goods that pass through Amsterdam port to be onwards shipped to the world outside the EU so is wrongly attributed
And as you say, I don’t think Europe is going to shoot itself in the foot and stop shipping us goods just because we removed our shackles and joined the rest of the world.
dave
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