Quote:
Originally Posted by Pierre
We can leave the EU anytime we like. Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon provides for this.
You don't need a referendum the government of the day can just do it. Although a referendum makes sense if you want to have a clear mandate.
Or you vote for a party that has a clear manifesto pledge to leave the EU, such as UKIP did in 2015.
http://www.ukip.org/ukip_manifesto_summary
It's very simple. |
Well I'd agree with all that if UKIP were a credible party of govt. but they're not, yet anyway, so whilst some might vote for them just to get us out of the EU very many more who want to leave probably wouldn't because they're not a credible govt. in all the other areas which matter and 5 years of that sort of Government could create all sorts of issues.
Whilst the two main parties who've run this country for by far the most part since WWII are dead set against the UK leaving, the reality is that leaving isn't simple at all. If we don't get out in June it'd require us to wait for the next general election at least and then elect a shambolic party into govt. Yes we might escape the EU but God only knows what would happen in the interim and in the aftermath.
---------- Post added at 14:25 ---------- Previous post was at 14:05 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Damien
Remember trade-deals are not two-way streets nor all-encompassing. What you can get is relative to your bargaining clout (i.e size of addressable market you're opening up to them) and even then it can cover somethings and not others. It will be vital for us to get similar level of access as we have now for our services industry, especially finance. That would probably be our priority in any negotiation.
But we have a population of 64 million. Germany and France alone have a combined size of 146 million.
The EU would have a stronger hand in any negotiation unless Leave have a trick up their sleeve.
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The economic growth and prospects of the nations concerned are also a major factor and right now the EU isn't exactly forging ahead is it. Then there's the rise of right wing extremism, social unrest, Poland, Turkey etc. etc. It's a perfect storm in the brewing and that doesn't make for a stable long term trading relationship no matter how big the relative populations are.