Quote:
Originally Posted by Damien
But you're effectively arguing we can't be trusted to be left to our own devices. This is not the argument I would make, you're on a hiding to nothing making that case.
The argument for setting policy at EU level is somethings are better achieved by multiple countries signing on at once and the EU makes that quicker and simpler.
A shared set of regulations cuts red tape, makes business more efficient and helps consumers by making the market wider for them and more trustworthy. The EU roaming thing works because every EU country had to sign up to it so reciprocity was enforced immediately. If we had tried to do this outside of the EU then Britain, if we wanted it, would have to work out the arrangements separately which would have been a much more arduous task. Likewise for every other thing that works across the EU automatically. I don't think people appreciate how much the single market helps things.
The best case for the EU is economic not democratic.
|
That is not what I am saying at all. What I am saying is that this Government cannot be trusted to carry forward the degree of Consumer protection that the EU currently underwrites. In fact, the future that the Hard Brexit supporters want for us demands such standards be diluted and/or removed.
As to your point that we only do it because it's part of the SM package, this is true to a degree. When we leave, we could just as easily mirror new EU consumer protection legislation as our own, autonomous, UK laws if we wanted to. The key phrase here is if we wanted to. If our Government wanted to get a better trade deal with the US, they could choose to lower or remove import standards for food for example and, by definition, no one could stop them.
One of the big Cons of the EU debate is that the EU always impose unnecessary and restrictive legislation on the member states with no or little upside when, in reality, the exact opposite is true.
The EU has a website where you can look up your favorite anti-EU myth:
Euromyths A-Z index
There are some classics here:
Butchers cannot give a dog a bone
Corgis to be banned by EU
EU workers immune from law
Yoghurt to be renamed
and so many more ..