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> " But Britain is too small and weak to ever again become a unit regulating itself." With all due respect, the UK has the 5th largest economy in the world. Co

> " But Britain is too small and weak to ever again become a unit regulating itself." With all due respect, the UK has the 5th largest economy in the world. Countries with weaker economies than the UK manage just fine on their own. The question isn't whether the UK can or can't do it, but rather whether we should.

flexie 10y ago
You lost 90-something percent of your territory, 90 percent of your population. You used to be the largest economy but now you seem impressed to be 5th. You used to impose your influence on all others. Now you are mostly in the receiving end. One of the reasons you didn't wither any further is the EU, another is pax americana, as long as it lasts. As is the case for most of the other weaker economies that do 'just fine'.
- ZenoArrow 10y ago
  The UK is no longer a world superpower, that much is true, but I find your argument that because we're only 5th means that we're "mostly in the receiving end" to be not that convincing. Not all economic arrangements that the UK has made rely on the EU or the US. To give one example, the UK has one of the strongest banking sectors in the world. Aside from London, none of the top 10 financial centres of the world exist within an economic union, the closest is Luxembourg at 14th: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Financial_Centres_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Financial_Centres_Index If it's not an issue for other countries to have a global financial centre outside an economic union, it's not going to be an issue for the UK either. Financial service companies based in London are unlikely to move anywhere else in the EU any time soon. For a better perspective on the position of the UK outside the EU, consider the difference between the economies of UK and Australia. Australia has the 13th largest economy in the world, yet there aren't the same type of calls for economic unity in Oceania. How can Australia survive as an independent territory? Why can't the UK do the same?

flexie 10y ago

You lost 90-something percent of your territory, 90 percent of your population. You used to be the largest economy but now you seem impressed to be 5th. You used to impose your influence on all others. Now you are mostly in the receiving end. One of the reasons you didn't wither any further is the EU, another is pax americana, as long as it lasts. As is the case for most of the other weaker economies that do 'just fine'.

ZenoArrow 10y ago
The UK is no longer a world superpower, that much is true, but I find your argument that because we're only 5th means that we're "mostly in the receiving end" to be not that convincing. Not all economic arrangements that the UK has made rely on the EU or the US. To give one example, the UK has one of the strongest banking sectors in the world. Aside from London, none of the top 10 financial centres of the world exist within an economic union, the closest is Luxembourg at 14th: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Financial_Centres_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Financial_Centres_Index If it's not an issue for other countries to have a global financial centre outside an economic union, it's not going to be an issue for the UK either. Financial service companies based in London are unlikely to move anywhere else in the EU any time soon. For a better perspective on the position of the UK outside the EU, consider the difference between the economies of UK and Australia. Australia has the 13th largest economy in the world, yet there aren't the same type of calls for economic unity in Oceania. How can Australia survive as an independent territory? Why can't the UK do the same?