Quote:
Originally Posted by Damien
I don't know where the three million figure comes from but it's not inconceivable that there would be consequences to leaving a trade zone which accounts for around 50% of our trade, even taking into account that the trade zone in question is mired in recession. If we can keep our place within the single market then that would be swell but it seems rather pick and choose and we may not be granted it.
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Of course, all those German car manufacturers would be delighted to see the UK denied an accommodation on trade. As would just about every business in Eire that exports anything to anywhere. Ditto the Spanish strawberry growers, happily planting away right now, in time to send us juicy ripe fruit by the truck load, just in time for Wimbledon.
We have a trade deficit with the EU. There is no way on Earth that the organisation would fail to agree trade terms with the UK as a part of exit agreements. To suggest otherwise is disingenuous.
And our trade with the EU is not 'around 50%'. It dropped below 44% last September and the indications are that it is continuing to drop. At the same time our exports to south America and the far east are increasing rapidly. For the sake of simplicity I'm not going to address the vexed question of exactly how much of our trade with the rest of the world is officially counted as an export to the EU, for the simple reason that some goods are sent from the UK to Rotterdam for onward shipment.
Heed the lessons from history: Britain has always succeeded when it has set its sights on the world. It has always become bogged down when it has allowed itself to become entangled in the affairs of continental Europe. It was ever thus, and in 50 years time we will look back and see our insane dalliance with the EU in that same context.