Vote would not heal the issues

As published in the www.suffolkfreepress.co.uk and The Diss Express Friday, April 5, 2019

You’ve read it here first. I agree with the Labour Party.

Or more accurately, I agree with Rebecca Long-Bailey, the Labour Party’s shadow business secretary. On 28 March, she was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and was asked her greatest regret about the Brexit process to date. She replied that she would have had the discussions we’re having now about leaving the European Union (EU)  – two years ago.

Of course, Miss Long-Bailey is in opposition and so, the real problem lies both with the upper echelons of the governing party and more importantly the permanent civil service.

The British economic and political establishment – pro-EU to its core – seems to have deliberately run down the clock whereby the views of 17.4m voters who backed leaving the EU in 2016 are likely to be disregarded, delayed or, at best, diluted.

A wise establishment, keen to respect that clear democratic decision, would have actively prepared for a no deal exit both as a possible and as a desirable outcome from 24 June 2016 onwards.

If the British Government was a business, plans would have been drawn up against this scenario as well as others. But Governmental institutions are part of the British public sector elite and so no such far-sightedness in mitigating risks was begun until well into the negotiations with the EU.

Those whose jobs and pensions are guaranteed against the impact of their own inertia and failure, have no need to do anything so preposterous as carrying out the democratic wishes of the British people!

Such a deliberate failure to plan for Brexit certainly requires that political and bureaucratic heads to roll. Some have gone, some have promised to go, others must follow suit.

In the meantime, businesses are now subject to a flood of technical notices and advice from different Government ministeries and local councils. Thee ridiculous paper chains serve no meaningful purpose other than covering the backsides of tardy civil servants.

But whilst the nation has watched perplexed and angry at the Parliamentary shenanigans on TV, the cold hard facts of the advantages of the UK leaving the protectionist and anti-democratic EU are almost forgotten.

So please allow me to repeat why it remains in this country’s and this county’s interests to leave the direct clutches of the Brussels anti-democrats.

We are the fifth largest economy in the world. An enormous amount of UK economic activity already occurs away from the EU.

56% of British exports are to countries outside of EU27. This figure has been rising – and looks set to rise further. 46% of our imports come from outside the EU.

Indeed, when you look at the country-by-country figures the only EU27 countries with whom we have a trade surplus are Ireland and Sweden.

Furthermore, 43% of our exports and 34% of our imports are conducted under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.

These are the arrangements under which we would trade with EU27 if we left cleanly and quickly. WTO rules guarantee market access in most circumstances, they disallow discrimination of one country by another and they outlaw dumping of sub-cost goods and services into overseas markets.

So WTO works well already for some British international traders – and there is no objective reason why it shouldn’t for the others as well.

I was cautiously pleased to see the recent proposals to avoid import tariffs on 87% of goods coming into the UK should we leave the EU without a deal. I’d like to see all import tariffs reduced to zero. Free trade is fair trade – fair on consumers and fair on the world economy.

Furthermore, when we leave the EU this country will still be fully involved in dozens of organisations that influence trade and economic policy, including the IMF and the World Bank.

Except for our pro-EU establishment, the world doesn’t start and end in Brussels.

The worst possible outcome for our economy and our society would be for a second referendum of any type.

Such a losers’ elections would widen not heal the issues in this country. The people of Suffolk who voted to leave in such overwhelming numbers will not thank the establishment of this final betrayal of their wishes.

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