Originally Posted by IKnowNothing

What I can't get my head around is that how come 194 other countries and dependencies manage to trade really successfully with the EU while not being part of it?

USA is the biggest services provider and China is the biggest exporter of stuff into the EC.

How does that work then?

Originally Posted by mrken30

The GDP of both the US and China is vastly different to that of the UK.

The US is a collection of different States, each of which have different laws and commerce restrictions. Very similar to the EU being made up of different countries and using their size to leverage trade deals.

The UK used to be a huge trading entity, before it lost it's empire. Now if has huge debt and productivity is not that great compare to some other Western nations.

Why do you think small corner shops form cooperatives? I'm sure Tescos gets a better deal than and small corner shop.

Corporate UK does not feel confident about the management of UK plc.

AstraZeneca CEO, worried by Brexit, not signing UK government letter - NY Daily News

Originally Posted by uk_grenada

GB bashing without facts may make you feel good but... what does the imf say about GDP for now and 2020?

Originally Posted by Arnold S

Originally Posted by TheShed

See, now Scampi, whilst we’re on opposite sides, you’re actually talking sense.

I am a brexiteer for a large number of reasons OTHER than immigration. Probably driven by the fact that I’m one of the older people here and remember the EEC which was an awesome idea. If the whole of Britain (and the other potential xxxexit candidates) stops with the back biting and gets on with what has been decided, who knows, this may work out ok.

E.g. I couldn’t give a 541t about UK manufacturing. That’s not where we make money. We do it by inventions, engineering and services which are mostly the businesses of the future. Can someone present me an argument what happens to Germany when the Chinese (as they undoubtedly will) catch up with German quality?? Agriculture pressure on UK? Forget it, the world is already short of food and almost anything produced will be eaten by someone. Financial services leaving London? Nope, would take the EU 10 years just to get around a table and announce an initiative to investigate making their systems equivalent. Some of my UK based Family run and work in H&S businesses. They are petrified as once Brexit happens, and H&S laws start to regain common sense, they are out of business. I applaud some H&S as it save life and injuries, but even old super non-pc Shed does a risk assessment before stepping on UK soil as I fear upsetting someone with a beard (male or female).

Finally. Law and Order? That’s not an immigration thing either, that’s a social slide that would have happened whether we were in or out of EU due to a more generous than necessary social state and in-education of people allowed to breed!!

Originally Posted by Scamp

Interesting stuff in there. I agree with things like H&S and bending over backwards for insignificant reasons. I think though, that as soon as the UK leaves the EU, we'll just adopt a great deal of the EU policies as new standards / laws....so I think there'll be large areas that just don't seem any different.

Originally Posted by Dubaiexile

The most Ironic thing is the Labour MP (Naz Shah, herself of Pakistani descent) telling victims of the predominantly Asian child abuse rings to shut up for the sake of diversity!

Originally Posted by Arnold S

She didn't, she mistakenly reposted a tweet from an account that was parodying the journalist Owen Jones.

But whatever fuels your fire.

Originally Posted by Dubaiexile

go find another Meme to hide behind!

Originally Posted by TheShed

And that to me, would be the biggest disaster of all. Ditch the bureaucracy and create a whole new one to restrict growth and competitiveness in exactly the same way.

Originally Posted by Scamp

Interesting stuff in there. I agree with things like H&S and bending over backwards for insignificant reasons. I think though, that as soon as the UK leaves the EU, we'll just adopt a great deal of the EU policies as new standards / laws....so I think there'll be large areas that just don't seem any different.

Originally Posted by Miss Ann Thrope

But most of the H&S stuff in the UK is UK-driven not EU driven (similarly things like data protection and anti-corruption measures). The H&S bureaucracy for our UK business is far greater than for our businesses in other EU countries for example. There's a classic case of EU myth-making. I think people are going to be surprised by how much stuff that the EU was blamed for remains around post-EU...

Originally Posted by Miss Ann Thrope

But most of the H&S stuff in the UK is UK-driven not EU driven