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Wes Streeting: Britain needs to join customs union with EU (www.thetimes.com)
submitted 10 months ago by to c/uk_politics@feddit.uk
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Archive link for those of us in the customs union.

Uh oh ๐Ÿ˜ณ. 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? ๐Ÿซ ๐Ÿ˜œ.

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[โ€“] 2 points 10 months ago (14 children)

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

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  • [โ€“] 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (13 children)

    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.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 10 months ago (12 children)

    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.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 10 months ago* (11 children)

    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.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 10 months ago (10 children)

    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.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 10 months ago* (9 children)

    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.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 10 months ago (8 children)

    If you think the EU is an environmental disaster then you could argue for the EU to have better environmental policies, rather than argue for the UK to stay out of the EU. Just like if you disagree with some UK legislation then you could campaign for that legislation to change, rather than argue that the UK should be broken up.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 10 months ago* (4 children)

    It's corrupt and subject to political capture. It's beyond reform

    https://www.politico.eu/article/copa-cogeca-farmering-lobby-europe/

    We are out now and have replaced it.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 10 months ago (3 children)

    European countries are some of the least corrupt in the world so I imagine the EU is probably not very corrupt compared to countries outside Europe.

    Anyway I guess we're not going to agree. If you want the UK to remain out of the EU, I think that's a valid opinion. I think that ties with Europe can benefit the UK although I recognise it's unlikely that the government will make any steps towards rejoining the EU any time soon.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 10 months ago (2 children)

    It's not just the corrupt CAP. It's the piss poor implementation of policies that wasted our ENTIRE net contribution to the last budget we paid into.

    65 fucking billion.

    https://wilderness-society.org/eu-agricultural-policy-cap-fails-to-protect-biodiversity/

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 10 months ago (1 child)

    I don't know lots about the CAP to be honest. Anyway I guess we will just have different views on the EU. There probably are lots of flaws to the EU but I like the idea of Europe working together in principle.

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  • [+] 1 point 10 months ago* (3 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [โ€“] 1 point 10 months ago

    Scots did of course have a referendum regarding Scottish membership of the UK, and I think Scots should be able to have such a vote again. Maybe votes like that should be held on a regular basis, to make politics more democratic.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 10 months ago* (1 child)

    @Wen @moderatecentrist although I am grateful for Scotland/Wales still being in the UK because without them the HoC would be Tory all the time (not that that's a good reason to stay)

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