Does Nicola Sturgeon (And Everyone Else) Realise..

[cassa333]

There is no such thing as soft or hard Bretix? It is just Bretix.

From all the things I have read, especially recently, there is little chance of negotiating staying in the single market and IF there is it will Be at such a hefty price it won't be worth it. And sometimes just because you can doesn't mean you should.

What the Scottish National Party (and everyone else) should be looking at is getting the best deal for and from the UK.

The single market issue for Scotland is all about pushing for independence and not necessarily about the benefits of the single market.

Well that's my thought anyway lol

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-38528058

[andy-hughes]

We are all still in the land of No Idea where Brexit is concverned, because no-one has a script, and no-one has a crystal ball.

This allows endless speculation, and the media love a buzz phrase, so you get the potentially infinite variables involved in the exit being corralled into a couple of snappy expressions which mean absolutely nothing without the context and detail which are simply not available yet.

I have maintained since the referendum was mooted, and all the way through the debate, the result, and to here - it all boils down to the way trade has worked for millennia.

Do you have something to sell that I want to buy? Can we agree a price? then have a deal.

Now you can complicate that from here to wazzoo - and they have - but the concept is unchanged because that is what trade is, it has never changed, and it never will.

If you have a product, and a demand, a deal can and will be done.

[cassa333]

I agree with you Andy. The trouble is governments and power hungry paper pushers get involved and want a cut of the fun.

But I wonder how much revenue is generated by import tax and such like that would otherwise have to be generated by other taxes? Take out the import tax and the price goes up might however make people aware of how cheaply we could be making these things ourselves!!

[youngmafbog]

Lets not forget that any 'contribution' to the EU for 'free' trade is an export/import tax or tariff. It's just the public purse that pays rather than the company and so only the individuals who buy those items if tariffs were applied.

There is no need for any deal the tariff both ways will end up the same no change really just a bit more paper work for the few companies involved (Most UK companies do not exprot but are caught up in EU red tape anyway)

Does the wee lass understand - I suspect so but she will use whatever it takes to achieve what she sees as her ultimate goal- An independent Scotland. It's called politics!

[Gromit]

Brexit just means leaving the EU.
What we do next is what is being debated. We are unlikely to be able to replace all the trade we currently do with the EU, with trading with the rest of the world. On what basis we continue our relationship with Europe is what hard and soft is.

[New Judge]

"We are unlikely to be able to replace all the trade we currently do with the EU, with trading with the rest of the world."

Why on earth do you think we should need to? Do you believe the trade currently undertaken with the rest of the EU will cease should we leave the Single Market (aka "Hard" Brexit)?

[Gromit]

New Judge,

The EU makes trade between EU countries easier. If we leave the EU, we will not necessarily lose that trade, but Brirish Companies will have work harder, for the same return. If We are confident in the ability of UK companies to be smart and trade outside the inevitable imposed restrictions the EU imposes, then the UK will go forth and smash the EU.

[New Judge]

“…and trade outside the inevitable imposed restrictions the EU imposes,”

What’s inevitable about it? I would hazard a guess that the amount of trade done between the UK and the rest of the EU post-Brexit (of the “hard” variety) will hardly be affected. There may be a few companies (on both sides) who decide any extra hassle is not worthwhile, but most will carry on unabated. Incredible as it may seem, normal countries (i.e. those outside the EU) trade perfectly well with those within it. They do not do so because the EU makes it easy. On the contrary, the EU and its customs union pose some of the greatest threats and obstacles to worldwide free trade that there are. But trade still goes on and at quite a pace. The UK will simply become one of those normal countries.

I don't think the objective should be to smash the EU. In fact I don’t believe that wretched institution needs any assistance from us as it is well on the way to self-destruction anyway. But I have to say that if a by-product of Brexit is the eventual end of an organisation that has imposed huge penury and misery across the continent then bring it on quickly.