4 ms·
They may be disappointed when they discover the rules aren't made in Brussels because the UK joined the EU, but because it's the UK's largest trading partner an
by grey-area 6y ago
They may be disappointed when they discover the rules aren't made in Brussels because the UK joined the EU, but because it's the UK's largest trading partner and the largest trade bloc in the world.
Brexit will simply make their position worse.
- nailer 6y agoNo. As anyone with an interest in politics in the UK will tell you, free movement literally ended yesterday.
- DanBC 6y agoThey'd be wrong. A bill passed its 3rd reading in house of commons. It needs to get through the House of Lords. It still has some way before becoming law. https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/passage-bill/commons/coms-commons-first-reading/ https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/passage-bill/common... And when the UK crashes out of EU with no deal we'll inevitably re-allow free movement of EU workers because we have no bargaining power.
- philwelch 6y ago> And when the UK crashes out of EU with no deal It’s incredible how many times people have cried wolf about this.
- DanBC 6y agoIf we have a deal that's going to include freedom of movement; if we don't have a deal we're going to be forced to include freedom of movement to get trading. There's no version of the UK in 2022 that doesn't have freedom of movement for EU citizens.
- nailer 6y agoYou're right. It needs to go through Lords. It will. Regarding your last sentence: leaving no-deal off the table, and this being unable to walk away, would have meant we have no bargaining power.
- grey-area 6y agoThe problem with trying to threaten the EU with a no deal exit is it's like a bank robber threatening to blow his own head off - messy, undesirable, but ultimately not very persuasive.
- nailer 6y agoIt's mutually assured destruction. The EU doesn't want to lose billions of dollars in trade either.
- grey-area 6y agoI don't think the EU will be moved by this. They can easily wait till the UK exits without a deal then be in an even stronger negotiating position.
- nailer 6y agoYou understand the concept of 'mutual', right?
- grey-area 6y agoLike the bank robber, you seem to mistake a threat of self-harm by the UK for an existential threat to the EU. No deal is not mutually assured destruction, it's certain destruction for the UK and some damage to the EU. That's not a very convincing lever in a negotiation. The final relationship will benefit the EU far more than the UK, simply because of the balance of power, regardless of delusions to the contrary and empty bombast from Johnson.
- nailer 6y agoOK, you think the EU wants to deliberately damage itself, like your bank robber analogy. You're welcome to your opinion.
- dragonwriter 6y ago> but because it's the UK's largest trading partner and the largest trade bloc in the world. The North American trade bloc (NAFTA/USMCA) is actually slightly bigger by both GDP and population, though the EU is, yes, the UK’s biggest trade partner.
- grey-area 6y agoOK second largest. It makes them a formidable interlocutor in negotiations, and the power imbalance means things will inevitably be decided in Berlin which impact the UK on regulations, trade, tariffs and FOM. The UK has little leverage and power in this relationship.