18-10-2018, 14:55
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#1976
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Remoaner
Cable Forum Team
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 32,762
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Re: Brexit
https://news.sky.com/story/europe-re...-them-11462776
Quote:
That they do is because it speaks to their own conception of British statecraft - the public views the EU/UK battle as one of two equal powers.
As painful as it might be for us to accept, it is not.
Yes the UK is the EU's second-largest economy. Yes it is its largest military player. Yes we are a cultural powerhouse. Yes we are their biggest individual market. Britain is powerful - but the EU is more powerful than we are.
On paper - this should not be surprising, yet no politician, of any stripe, would ever dare say it.
But the facts speak for themselves: We are 65 million of a bloc of 450 million. Ours is a $2.9trn (£2.2trn) economy, they are $19trn (£14.6trn) They represent 44% of our exports. We, just 9% of theirs. They are 27 - we are one.
The impact of a no deal (as all the studies show) would be considerable but they have a crucial advantage: they are able to spread the risk and burden. For that reason, the same studies show, it would hurt us far more. We have nowhere else to turn.
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