WorKid wrote:

What the fuck?

Just ignore him. He's in one of his moods.

WorKid wrote:

I'm a remoaner okay.

But...

Let's take the EU Canada deal. What a fucking shambles that was. (Wallonia??)
The EU tariffs are a mess, the CAP is a horrific compromise.

Maybe we can be bold. Maybe the UK will say fuck it guys, we declare unilateral tariff-free access to the UK. No need to bother with tedious free-trade agreements.

Imagine that. All global producers competing on equal terms - our choice goes up and prices come down.

Out of the EU we could open ourselves up to be the centre of the whole world. Will we... Probably not. But we could.

This is madness. We'd still be exporting with tariffs and any domestic industry could be undercut by foreign competition at anytime from any place.

mistercrayon wrote:

Liveinadive wrote:

I never said anything about Cameron's policies or history, just a comment on ability during a poll.

Try not to be so reactionary, leave that to the Daily Mail comments section.

What a load of cobblers.

Quote me then.

Unilateral free trade could work at the point that living standards have fallen so far that our labour costs can compete with somewhere like China, until that point, it will only cause mass unemployment. Cheap coffee's no good if nobody has enough money to buy it.

(@yoss)
It's a sector by sector thing though isn't it? I mean I haven't checked but let's say the EU tariff on (non-EU) cars is 10% and it's 5% on coffee and 30% on cheese (cos you know, France). UFT would maybe hurt Nissan a bit, Cathedral City a lot and erm yeah I don't think we grow much coffee do we.

This is part of the point though Monkey. It takes 5 minutes to declare UFT. It takes decades to negotiate individual FTAs with country after country.

WorKid wrote:

Yeah maybe (monkey). Brexit just gives you options though. From allowing tariff-free coffee imports to full unilateral free trade. That why I say there's the isolationist / protectionist outcome, or the super-liberal outcome like unilateral free trade. Personally I'd go UFT given the choices although I'm no economist. I'd like cheaper coffee though.

It's not about any of this. What world do we want to live in? International or isolationist? Of course Brexit is going to fuck our economy but I personally couldn't give a flying fuck about that. Hopefully this will be a lesson in cooperation, at our expense. Without going on too much about the planet it seems if humans are going to make a go of it then the EU seems vital.

At which point every other country in the world will stick a 300% tariff on our cheeses.

Gazelle I'm with you on that 100%. Brexit makes me sad and angry all at the same time. More about the (ill-informed) reasons people had for voting for it (Bananas/NHS/Muslims).

But we're here now and we could choose to be even better than the EU were, even more inclusive and liberal, open ourselves up to the world and say to everyone we will do business with you, we will exchange ideas with you, we will welcome you to our country if you can contribute.

Yes I'm being optimistic but I feel it's the best way right now. I'm sick of feeling sick about it all.

Plus it was sunny and I've had a couple of pints.

WorKid wrote:

This is part of the point though Monkey. It takes 5 minutes to declare UFT. It takes decades to negotiate individual FTAs with country after country.

National industries would be swamped with new entrants, our exports would all be under WTO rules, which any country can choose to kick up a stink about e.g. Argentina wants to sell us cheaper lamb, decides to play silly buggers at the WTO about Welsh lamb exports. That's one industry gone immediately. Even if Argentina didn't mess around, our lamb isn't getting exported tariff-free anywhere.
So that industry is gone or diminshed. You've got cheaper lamb but now your taxes have gone up to cover the unemployment in Wales.

I suppose if you eat enough cheap, Argentinian lamb the amount you save may cover the increased taxes.

WorKid wrote:

Gazelle I'm with you on that 100%. Brexit makes me sad and angry all at the same time. More about the (ill-informed) reasons people had for voting for it (Bananas/NHS/Muslims). But we're here now and we could choose to be even better than the EU were, even more inclusive and liberal, open ourselves up to the world and say to everyone we will do business with you, we will exchange ideas with you, we will welcome you to our country if you can contribute. Yes I'm being optimistic but I feel it's the best way right now. I'm sick of feeling sick about it all. Plus it was sunny and I've had a couple of pints.

Well we like exporting arms, so I guess that'll flourish.

*agrees Brexit is the worst thing to happen to European relations since the second World War

Yossarian wrote:

Unilateral free trade could work at the point that living standards have fallen so far that our labour costs can compete with somewhere like China, until that point, it will only cause mass unemployment. Cheap coffee's no good if nobody has enough money to buy it.

Yeah... This.

If you just say 'come here, it's fray', all the local companies won't be able to compete, and wages will lower, as the international behemoths become the only viable sources of employment.

Maybe. Well... Most likely.

I suppose the next question will be what kind of protectionist laws does the UK currently have in place to support national business? Because importing from the EU must already squeeze out plenty of domestic business. Like agriculture, for a start.

Affect onm agriculture, when I google map dorset I see many many farmers "growing" electricity from solar cells rather than actual farming, the times they are a changing

Dont forget the human element, as EU citizens (which you still are guys...) you have the right to Live, work, travel, Study & love in 28 countries.

Those people can also come to your country and start friendships and relationships with you.

Most of my friends and lovers are from the EU, my life would be a lot poorer without them.
I'd guess that's true for some of you too.