Originally Posted by Miss Ann Thrope

More examples of the crazy delusion that got us here....

The UK contribution to the EU budget is far less significant for the EU than the UK's ability to maintain free trade with the EU is for the UK. If there is a hard Brexit and the UK pays nothing the EU will cope easily. Without free trade with Europe significant swathes of British business will perish. That's the plain and simple fact

As for the Brexit divorce bill, again it is a completely ignored fact that the UK obtains a large number of government services through the EU which it would otherwise have to provide for itself. And indeed the cost to the UK for doing those things for itself post-Brexit was something that seems to have been completely ignored. There are a lot of arcane but essential civil service activities involved which are more efficiently performed by one centralised EU office (at least in principle). Perhaps the most relevant one for the immediate future is management of external trade.

The argument over the divorce bill is largely about what period of expenditure and benefit should be covered. Telling the EU to "go whistle" is as enlightened a strategy as we have come to expect from this bunch of nincompoops: Davis, Fox & Johnson - sounds like a bunch of ambulance chasers just without the compassion and ruthless effectiveness...

And this audit thing is another UKIP straw man distraction like the 5 presidents - meaningless and irrelevant but sounds momentarily compelling. When was the last set of audited full UK government accounts that you saw?

Originally Posted by Miss Ann Thrope

More examples of the crazy delusion that got us here....

The UK contribution to the EU budget is far less significant for the EU than the UK's ability to maintain free trade with the EU is for the UK. If there is a hard Brexit and the UK pays nothing the EU will cope easily. Without free trade with Europe significant swathes of British business will perish. That's the plain and simple fact

As for the Brexit divorce bill, again it is a completely ignored fact that the UK obtains a large number of government services through the EU which it would otherwise have to provide for itself. And indeed the cost to the UK for doing those things for itself post-Brexit was something that seems to have been completely ignored. There are a lot of arcane but essential civil service activities involved which are more efficiently performed by one centralised EU office (at least in principle). Perhaps the most relevant one for the immediate future is management of external trade.

The argument over the divorce bill is largely about what period of expenditure and benefit should be covered. Telling the EU to "go whistle" is as enlightened a strategy as we have come to expect from this bunch of nincompoops: Davis, Fox & Johnson - sounds like a bunch of ambulance chasers just without the compassion and ruthless effectiveness...

And this audit thing is another UKIP straw man distraction like the 5 presidents - meaningless and irrelevant but sounds momentarily compelling. When was the last set of audited full UK government accounts that you saw?

Originally Posted by Autonomy

Back with a bang Eeyore... though to be fair, it's just as likely that your parents are to blame

Originally Posted by Inselaffen

I'm pretty sure that the cost of those services will be more than covered with the money saved from not having UK MEP's and not contributing to the EU diplomatic gravy train.

Originally Posted by Inselaffen

not having UK MEP's and not contributing to the EU diplomatic gravy train.

Originally Posted by Arnold S

That's earmarked for the NHS though, isn't it?

Originally Posted by Scamp

No, that was just a 'suggestion' wasn't it? Immediately denied and distanced from by their master the morning after the election?

Originally Posted by Eeyore

They only backed away from it as a "suggestion" the morning after. Up until that point, nobody on the Leave side claimed that it was anything other than a guarantee of £350m a week for the NHS.

Originally Posted by Eeyore

But that's just another example of the airy hand-waving and empty tabloid-friendly sloganeering that got us into this mess. What, exactly, is the "EU diplomatic gravy train"? With reference to figures, and relevant comparisons to the cost of diplomacy generally?

Originally Posted by Millhouse

You, just like much of the anti-brexit, are just as disillusioned as the brexiters.

Originally Posted by Inselaffen

this covers some of it Full extent of EU's diplomatic service revealed - Telegraph

I remember looking into trying to get into the EU diplomatic fast stream when I finished my undergrad. Salaries were significantly higher that the UK equivalent even before taking into account the perks and lower taxation.

Originally Posted by Miss Ann Thrope

And still nobody can suggest ONE SINGLE potentially advantageous specific credible trade deal that the UK might pursue in the event of a hard Brexit....

Originally Posted by BritInParis

New agreements? Off the top of my head: United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand.

Originally Posted by mrken30

Japan is not 'too polite' to tell Britain what it thinks of Brexit - Business Insider
Australian trade minister says special relationship with UK is now for yesteryear - Economy

Greek economy now growing faster than the UK - Business Insider
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-pos...nsons-promises

LSE BREXIT – Global trade can’t replace the value of the EU Single Market for the UK

Greek economy now growing faster than the UK - Business Insider