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Move to rejoin EU among options for UK, says Burnham (www.bbc.co.uk)
submitted 1 week ago by to c/uk_politics@feddit.uk
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"We could stay as we are. That's definitely an option, if people think this is the right place to stay," he told [BBC Radio 4's Today programme].

"We could look at what [former Chancellor] George Osborne has said about a customs union, we could look at what the Liberal Democrats said at their conference about the single market, or we could go all the way."

If you watch the video in the article, he also said this:

Brexit has caused more harm than good, and I think around 60% of the British public agree with that statement.

Do you like these statements from Burnham or not? I think these statements are good.

I don't see the point in cutting ties with our European allies, causing harm to our economy, just so we can wave little Union Jacks and pretend that we're so much better than other European countries.

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[–] 1 point 1 week ago (5 children)

If you believe France is a useful single doppelgänger you honestly need to read a bit more.

Before 2016 the UK was more open and more finance-heavy (about 7% of output vs 4%), it ran a current-account deficit of about 5% of GDP (France was near balance), and its labour market was more flexible (about 74% employment vs 64%).

France was also in the euro, more state-cushioned (public spending about 57% of GDP vs 40%) and more EU-oriented in its trade.

On almost every channel Brexit worked through (sterling, investment, services trade, migration), France would have responded differently.

I think you’re picking data to suit your opinions. And you’re diverging from the vast majority of economists when attempting to compare the counter-factual case. That alone should give you pause.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago (4 children)

    It's the most similar economy and didn't leave the EU. It's a better proxy than sticking bits of New Zealand's and America's economy into a doppelganger model.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago* (3 children)

    Ok, that’s a fine opinion. Just know that it contradicts what 99.999% of all economists would say. But what do they know, eh? I think people have had enough of experts!

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago (2 children)

    They are using synthetic counter factuals. There is no control. There is no precedent to leaving the EU.

    There is no guarantee that the UK would have not still had major disruption from a narrow remain vote

    0.29% of UK companies stopped exporting to the EU. Big deal.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago (1 child)

    I have zero idea where you get these numbers from.

    https://www.lse.ac.uk/news/latest-news-from-lse/l-december-2024/brexit-reduced-goods-exports-by-27bn

    https://www.cityam.com/brexit-onslaught-deepens-as-a-third-of-all-uk-firms-exporting-to-eu-simply-vanish-due-to-red-tape-knockout/

    Somewhere between 15%-30% of all exporters to the EU stopped after Brexit.

    But this is a waste of your time - I can sense that data isn’t really going to convince.

    At least you can enjoy those bendy bananas.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago

    There are something like 5m UK businesses. A tiny fraction of them actually exported to the EU. And 15-30% of that sub fraction stopped exporting.

    Meanwhile UK services exports has increased by over 75% since 2016

    We just swapped high carbon polluting goods trade for high margin low carbon services

    Just in time for carbon border taxes.

    Net win.

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