This quote is a good summary of the article:
It is time to rebuild meaningful working and trading relations with Europe. This does not have to mean rejoining the EU. But it does mean recognising where our security and our prosperity both lie.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
Labour isn’t willing to lose 30-40% of it’s voters. Cold hard truth. This they will never countenance rejoin on any level.
Closer “defence” arrangements is as far as they will go.
You’re probably right. Things like joining the customs union probably won’t happen until at least the next government in 2029.
uk spending more money on defense is just grifting by contractors, uk is not assailable and surrounded by allies, but i’m sure more sas war criminals are always needed for guardian of israel to murder some people somewhere. Also money laundering gone to uae, so that seems meh for the financial services economy (10% of gdp, no?).
Aligning to eu makes sense in any case
In the other, the Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Ed Davey, called for Britain to join the customs union by 2030 as part of a larger deal with Europe.
Would the EU actually accept us joining the EUCU without joining the EEA?
Turkey is in the customs union without being in the EEA right?
Absolutely not. Most EU countries are still sour about the cherry picking Brits back in the day and the entire Brexit charade.
I don’t care about ‘threats’ from Russia or China, nothing more than new Red Scare propaganda. So, that point can be thrown in the
trashrubbish bin.Joining the customs union would boost trade by eliminating most taxes on imports and exports with EU member states. It would place Britain behind a European tariff wall with the rest of the world. It would help to align rules which, as Sir Ed pointed out, mean that a UK air cargo company currently has to service its planes in the US rather than in Europe. And it would reduce some of the red tape created by Britain’s own post-Brexit regulations.
What will EU even import from the UK? Does it even want British goods? Is there even enough demand backed by purchasing power in the EU countries given their own economic stagnation? Relying on exports as a source of demand is a terrible idea, especially when the Government isn’t willing to step in if and when there are any shocks.
The economic reasons are more valid, I think more open trade between EU and UK would be good. But it’s not going to fix U.K’s problems in any way, that requires Government to do stuff and increase spending, which it isn’t going to do.
the continent cries out for bovril
Yeah I guess the invasion of Ukraine didn’t happen. It’s just a “propaganda” myth isn’t it.
UK and Ukraine does sound the same, yeah.
The UK has had its own attacks from the Russian state (the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko and the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal). Given that they invaded Ukraine (despite denying that they would), who knows what they will do next.
India assassinated someone in Canada, is India going to occupy Canada soon? UK and Russia are both nuclear states btw.
U.K. is subservient to U.S., has been since WW2, and likely will be as long as the U.S. exists . The article specifically mentions Russia but only links to another article saying Trump ‘wants’ Greenland. Mentioning Russia and China is a great way to ignore the real puppeteer.
I think there is probably less of a chance of the US being malicious towards the UK (e.g. sending assassins to murder Brits), compared to the risk coming from Putin’s regime.
