Oh dear. Right questions for @OwenPaterson on Today on car manufacturers and no deal should have focused on (inevitable given WTO MFN rules) 10% EU tariffs and disruption to complex manufacturing supply chains crossing Channel many times on just in time basis.
Instead he was allowed to dodge key issue by concentrating on U.K. tariffs and sales of finished cars. #r4today.
Reminder: if #r4today journalists want help in preparing to interview on these issues, many experts around who are happy to help.
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Worth recalling, before we commit to the Withdrawal Agreement transition period, quite how extraordinary it is, in democratic terms, that the U.K. will be immediately and automatically be bound by law and decisions it which it and its voters will play no part.
The EEA is, really, nothing like this: narrower scope, governed by institutions with own-country representation, and far greater ability to refuse to go along with unacceptable EU measures.
I have a hunch that one of the two factors that rule out hard Brexit (no deal or even “Canada +++” as a 2020 option) in the PM’s mind is the fear that Nissan/JLR/Toyota would close a large factory and blame Brexit.
(The other - more acknowledged - is the Irish border.)
FWIW I think her instincts may be right on that: closure or effective closure of those factories due to Brexit could well decisively shift the public mood against both Brexit and her Govt.
VAT/Brexit thought for the day. When hard Brexiters point out that @BorderIrish is already a “VAT border” they ignore two vital points.
1. Since it’s currently a border between two EU Member States, VAT isn’t payable on importation (ie at the border), but only when the purchaser does its VAT return. So no border infrastructure is needed now: but it will be needed when VAT has to be paid at the border.
2. That system will be hard to replicate post Brexit because it relies on close cooperation between VAT authorities and harmonisation of law backed by robust enforcement and adjudication mechanisms (ultimately the ECJ).
Quite. Since this will be reciprocal, we need to ask what access we want *our* young people, retirees, musicians/consultants, UK employees moving to offices on the continent etc to have to the EU before deciding what arrangements we want for EU citizens moving here.
That question - what access do we want our employees, young people, retirees, musicians, consultants, other self-employed to have to our closest and huge neighbour, the EU - never seems to be asked, though. Perhaps @bbcnickrobinson will ask the PM on @BBCr4today?
There are a number of fatal problems with this approach, if it is one that is commending itself to Labour’s leadership. theguardian.com/business/2018/…
1. As I explained here, the commitment to a customs union means that the State aid pass has *already* been sold.
The article is right that the Court of Appeal dealt rather unimpressively with what is a key question for any democratic polity: who do you accept as being a member of it, entitled to a voice in its politics?
As well as the questions of what obligations citizens owe to the State, and what is the basis of those obligations.