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View Full Version : Customs Union: Debate turns to Britain's future in the customs bloc



-:Undertaker:-
03-01-2017, 12:58 PM
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/03/uk-will-create-400000-jobs-quits-customs-union-part-brexit-talks/
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/brexiteers-fight-to-quit-customs-union-rmfb7fss9

Brexiteers demand to quit customs union

With the Government almost certain to leave the EU Single Market, debate now turns to quitting the EU Customs Union


http://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/methode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F693e312e-d135-11e6-b721-fbd88801f92d.jpg?crop=5349,3009,156,145&resize=685
Iain Duncan Smith said yesterday: “There is no point in leaving the EU if you stay in the customs union”


Leading Brexit supporters begin a campaign today for Britain to leave the European customs union, saying the move would create hundreds of thousands of jobs. Prominent Leave campaigners believe that Theresa May is being lobbied by cabinet ministers and officials to stay inside the union, which allows goods to move freely around the EU without customs checks.

Britain will become a “beacon of global free trade” and create nearly 400,000 new jobs if it quits the customs union as part of the Brexit negotiations according to Change Britain.

An analysis by Change Britain, a group with the backing of Michael Gove, said that leaving the European Union’s customs union and striking trade agreements with just eight foreign countries will create hundreds of thousands of jobs in manufacturing and service industries.

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The customs union allows the free trade of goods between members, but members also have to apply the same tariffs to goods imported from outside the union.

Using European Commission figures on potential trade deals with countries such as India, China, Japan and Canada, the Change Britain analysis found Britain would get nearly £20 billion from extra exports and create 387,580 jobs.

As a member of the EU’s customs union, Britain is not allowed to make its own free trade agreements with non-EU countries and must instead rely on the European Commission to do so.

This is seen as a significant disadvantage after Brexit, as ministers are keen that Britain should be able to set the terms of its own deals.

Boris Johnson, the Foreign & Commonwealth Secretary, has said previously that the UK will “probably” have to leave the customs union, although his remarks were later played down by Downing Street.

For those who don't know there are three 'layers' to the whole thing.


First layer you've got EU member states (Britain *at the moment*, Germany, France, Spain etc)

Second layer you've got non-EU-but-in-the Single Market countries (Norway)

Third layer you've got non-EU and non-Single Market countries who are in the Customs Union (Turkey)

And fourth... you've got likes of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United States, China (rest of the world) who aren't in any.

Or if a confusing graph of varying degrees of European integration helps.


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/Supranational_European_Bodies-en.svg/640px-Supranational_European_Bodies-en.svg.png



It's clear we're leaving the Single Market but it's also clear for all Brexit promises to be achieved as well as national interest, we must leave the Customs Union as well. If we were to stay in the Customs Union, we'd be in the absurd situation of being the world's 5th largest economy having the European Commission making our trade deals for us without any input into the deals. From a trade perspective, even worse than being in the EU.

From the hints and signals so far it looks encouraging.

Thoughts?

-:Undertaker:-
03-01-2017, 09:20 PM
Yet more good news as Sir Ivan Rogers, British Ambassador to the EU, resigns.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/03/rogers-resignation-is-latest-sign-britain-is-heading-for-hard-brexit

Sir Ivan Rogers resignation is latest sign Britain is heading for hard Brexit

Outgoing ambassador represented best hope of a negotiated compromise over terms of departure from EU


https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/article_small/public/thumbnails/image/2017/01/03/13/sir-ivan-rogers-crop.jpg
Former British Prime Minister David Cameron with now-former UK Ambassador to the EU Sir Ivan Rogers


The resignation of Britain’s ambassador to the European Union is seen on both sides of the ever-widening Channel as a sobering reminder that the country is heading for the hardest of Brexits.

Regardless of whether he was pushed or chose to jump, Sir Ivan Rogers was more than just the government’s representative in Brussels. He was also Britain’s best hope of a negotiated compromise with other member states over the terms of its departure.

For hardliners in Westminster, the resignation will be seen as a late Christmas present. The Tory right has long accused Rogers of offering “little but doom and gloom” by focusing on the gulf between what they believe could be achieved through determined British bargaining and what the other 27 governments want.

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage called for more ambassadors to be removed from their posts “all over the world” after Sir Ivan Rogers, the UK’s top diplomat in Brussels, announced he will be stepping down from his ambassadorial role within the next few weeks. Calling Rogers a “fanatical remainer”, Farage says he hopes there will soon be a “clear out” of diplomats to make way for people who will pursue a “global, not a European” future for Britain.

There's nothing to 'compromise' on. Give Europe a take it or leave it choice as to what we're willing to still take part in.

You say no to tariff free access on financial services? We say no to tariff free access for your cars.
You say no to our participation in Erasmus? We say no to our continued superior intelligence-sharing.

If they show any signs of being awkward then just be done with it and walk away.

-:Undertaker:-
08-01-2017, 05:58 PM
PM pretty much confirmed leaving Customs Union today in an interview with Sky News.

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