Quote:
Originally Posted by jfman
If our first action as a truly independent and “sovereign” nation is to renege on our debts to the European Union our credit ratings will collapse and we will be considered as negotiating in bad faith by any prospective trading partner.
Not going to happen.
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This is where the ideal pushed by Johnson, Rees-Mogg et al falls short of reality. They think we can gain the upper hand by refusing to pay the 39bn. I don't think we can. The EU are asking that we pay our dues, but I don't think they'll be massively inconvenienced if we don't. Yes, it might cause some ripples in the money market, but they'll weather it. I doubt the EU will bend. They are likely not to be able to bend much. Why? If they "bend" for us, they will have to bend for the next country that tries to leave, and the next. They can't afford for that to happen.
On the other hand, we will be going into negotiations for almost every aspect of our international trade with a reputation of being an unreliable payer. This is likely to be reflected in tougher trading terms, or countries being unwilling to deal with us. The WTO may not be able to help, as we won't be members, and any request for membership requires the agreement of all members, in much the same way the EU requires agreement amongst its members for actions. We may not get that agreement if other countries think we are just going to run off without paying any debts.
I don't