post brexit

[Wheeze]

The numbers don't matter. As any fule noes they are subject to massage, misrepresentation, fudging, blatant lying etc etc.
It's the principle that drove the matter. Did I really pay any attention at all to the £350 mill number? Of course not! Obvious marketing fluff!
Should we be concerned about giving money to a bloated bureaucracy offshore to get it fed back as they saw fit? Yes I think we should.
Don't get hung up on headline grabbers...look to the underlying principle.

[noel]

If we're concerned about the financial side of things...
Do you think the UK will be richer or poorer post-Brexit?

[Witton Park]

If we're concerned about the financial side of things...
Do you think the UK will be richer or poorer post-Brexit?

It's about what quantifies richer Noel. This GDP measure that seems to be the benchmark is a terrible way to measure the wealth of a country.

Whether richer or poorer financially, I think it will be a positive move when we look back in 10 years time.

[noel]

It's about what quantifies richer Noel. This GDP measure that seems to be the benchmark is a terrible way to measure the wealth of a country.

Whether richer or poorer financially, I think it will be a positive move when we look back in 10 years time.

You might be right. And it will be hard to tell. I think that's the best claim the Brexit camp can make at the moment - they certainly can no longer argue it's in the short-term interests of the economy.

Perhaps we should take David Cameron's suggestion and start measuring happiness.

[bigfella]

Perhaps we should take David Cameron's suggestion and start measuring happiness.

There's a joke there, deliberate?

[Witton Park]

they certainly can no longer argue it's in the short-term interests of the economy.

Why? What has happened that has changed anything in the short-term?
The move in the £ makes exports a little more expensive, but it also makes exports easier. There are pros and cons but I can't see that we have anything in the short term to be negative about.

Now we have this leaving process and yes that could be made more complicated than need be. That's down to the personalities involved.

If you look at a few EU bods, they seem hurt, offended and they may let their personal opinions get in the way.
However, Mrs Merkel and the respective leaders of Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Holland and a few others, you will be under a lot of pressure to approach this task with pragmatism.

It really is down to them.

If I was the UK PM I would be leading on a proper economic break and head for WTO terms with a view to bi-lateral deals with the EU in areas that are mutually beneficial, which can be worked on after the break. That is in effect how the Swiss have managed and bi-lateral trade deals would seem the quickest way to work.

That doesn't initially need any accommodation from the EU as we leave, as we are not asking them for any special access.

However, I suspect the UK Government will look to secure substantial free trade access. As things stand that is free access for us to a market worth around £130 Billion a year based on current trading levels.
To the EU that is free access to a market worth around £200 Billion.

So the EU should be beating down our door to retain free trade.

[Hobbsy]

Straight from the horse's mouth......don't panic, Captain Mainwaring...!

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/news/...PWjQ&ocid=iehp

[Mike T]

" Philip Hammond has admitted the Brexit vote’s blow to the economy would force the government to borrow £122bn more than hoped as he pushed back government plans to balance the books in his autumn statement."

I just don't believe people would have voted for this .....

[Witton Park]

If anyone is interested, watch out for thee Exiting the European Unions Select Committee that was on this morning on Parliament TV. They usually replay them a few times over the next week and it was really interesting.

Rather than the confrontational atmosphere of the Commons, the MPs get chance to ask questions of people with proper knowledge. These unfortunately are not the sort of people we get to see before the referendum and perhaps they should have set up a committee a year ago as it certainly offers a better quality of information and in a better environment.
You can see both Remain and Leave MPs learning things they didn't know.

Shanker Singham, Director of Economic Policy and Prosperity Studies, The Legatum Institute is a highly qualified international trade negotiator. He came out with some things I was aware of, but quite a lot I wasn't.
One example.
It has often said that the UK cannot just take back it's seat at the WTO. Mr Singham dispelled this. All the UK has done is to defer to the EU to negotiate trade deals on it's behalf and as long as the UK adopts the EU positions as it's starting point when retaking it's full position, it should not have any issues.
It could even be the case that the UK retains the existing deals with (for example) South Korea.

The only difficulty would come if the UK saught to change these tariff schedules in advance of taking back our position.

The slight complication is Agriculture, but as the UK breaking away is likely to be positive for WTO members outside of the EU as far as agriculture goes he felt this would not be a barrier.

He did however see problems for the EU, as their tariff schedules are on the basis of the UK being part of the EU. The EU is losing 20% of it's economic size and some agreements will need revising and it may not be so easy for them, mainly due to the CAP.

[Stolly]

The numbers don't matter

That says it all really. The brexit argument in a nutshell. Except of course when talking numbers about the 'cost' of being in the EU - those numbers are great. The benefits numbers and the massive likely cost of leaving though - those numbers are rubbish