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Brexit: give me a positive effect... X

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It's called levelling up. Nobody wants to see a Poland brain-drain. They want FoM, of course, but they don't want Poland empty and nobody to mend the roads. So you do both.
Someone should explain to Boris what levelling-up means. The probelm is that Boris and his pals don't know where Barnsley and Bolton are on a map, much less know what they look like, so making them reasonably prosperous is about as likely as London falling into the sea next week. It is of course possible, but there is millions of pounds invested to make sure it doesn't happen.
And once levelled up, people will return back to their home.

So where do our fruit and veg pickers come from then? Was it all a temporary fix?

When I was last in Poland the complaint was about the cheaper Ukrainians coming in for jobs. It seemed rather ironic.

I can understand why Poland joined the Union though. They have been a country pulled around for the last 150 years by their neighbours.
 
And once levelled up, people will return back to their home.

So where do our fruit and veg pickers come from then? Was it all a temporary fix?

When I was last in Poland the complaint was about the cheaper Ukrainians coming in for jobs. It seemed rather ironic.

I can understand why Poland joined the Union though. They have been a country pulled around for the last 150 years by their neighbours.
Except they don't go home. Some do, sure, but plenty stay. They have a decent life, they like it here. Home becomes Leeds, or London, or Manchester. Our fruit and veg pickers will always come from elsewhere. When I was a kid in the 80s it was the itinerant Irish potato pickers who came for the season and became the village publican's best friends for a month or 6 weeks. Before that it was the Windrush generation, and the Indian and Pakistani mill workers. Before that it was Hungarian and Polish miners and steelworkers who replaced the men killed in WW2. Before that, in the 19th century, it was the Dutch rutters who dug the drains in East Anglia and Lincolnshire to reclaim the land. People move for work, and they make a life where they land. It's been happening in Europe for 2000 years. It's not going to stop now.

Oh, and let's not forget the Boys From The Blackstuff gastarbeiters of the 80s who left 3 million UK unemployed behind to work in construction sites in Germany. It's not all one way.
 
And once levelled up, people will return back to their home.

So where do our fruit and veg pickers come from then? Was it all a temporary fix?

When I was last in Poland the complaint was about the cheaper Ukrainians coming in for jobs. It seemed rather ironic.

I can understand why Poland joined the Union though. They have been a country pulled around for the last 150 years by their neighbours.
This could be part of the reason along with grants, cheap loans and western European companies moving production to Poland.
18794.jpeg
 
This could be part of the reason along with grants, cheap loans and western European companies moving production to Poland.
18794.jpeg

Cause or effect Colin. Try to think past zero-sum economics.

Low wages attract jobs and the EU is funding Poland to help infrastructure and development, raising standard of living and wages which means they then become a good market for the EU. A rising tide lifts all boats..
 
Except they don't go home. Some do, sure, but plenty stay. They have a decent life, they like it here. Home becomes Leeds, or London, or Manchester. Our fruit and veg pickers will always come from elsewhere. When I was a kid in the 80s it was the itinerant Irish potato pickers who came for the season and became the village publican's best friends for a month or 6 weeks. Before that it was the Windrush generation, and the Indian and Pakistani mill workers. Before that it was Hungarian and Polish miners and steelworkers who replaced the men killed in WW2. Before that, in the 19th century, it was the Dutch rutters who dug the drains in East Anglia and Lincolnshire to reclaim the land. People move for work, and they make a life where they land. It's been happening in Europe for 2000 years. It's not going to stop now.

Oh, and let's not forget the Boys From The Blackstuff gastarbeiters of the 80s who left 3 million UK unemployed behind to work in construction sites in Germany. It's not all one way.

Exactly !

And after Brexit, they will come from the next up and coming place. So, people from Hong Kong might indeed come and find a decent life here. There will still be work and life and trade in years to come.

It makes sense really.
 
Cause or effect Colin. Try to think past zero-sum economics.

Low wages attract jobs and the EU is funding Poland to help infrastructure and development, raising standard of living and wages which means they then become a good market for the EU. A rising tide lifts all boats..


It's almost as if they think The Marshall Plan was a good idea and worked, it didn't obviously and we would have all been better off with austerity like after WW1 which lead to peace and prosperity throughout Europe.
 
Cause or effect Colin. Try to think past zero-sum economics.

Low wages attract jobs and the EU is funding Poland to help infrastructure and development, raising standard of living and wages which means they then become a good market for the EU. A rising tide lifts all boats..

Using the same logic then, why didn't the EU offer the UK a harmonious transition and trading deal, thereby lifting our boats and helping us buy even more BMWs !
 
This could be part of the reason along with grants, cheap loans and western European companies moving production to Poland.
18794.jpeg

That doesn't look levelled up to me. Some of those countries have been the EU for donkeys years. They should have had enough time and assistance to become positive contributors, if we use the levelling up concept.

Maybe it's more complicated.
 
Using the same logic then, why didn't the EU offer the UK a harmonious transition and trading deal, thereby lifting our boats and helping us buy even more BMWs !
Because any such offer requires something in return, and the UK rejected the things the EU needed, such as guarantees we wouldn’t undermine the ‘level playing field’, or commitments to agreed dispute resolution mechanisms, that sort of thing. If we’d been less hard line, we’d probably not be in quite such a buggers muddle now.
 
That doesn't look levelled up to me. Some of those countries have been the EU for donkeys years. They should have had enough time and assistance to become positive contributors, if we use the levelling up concept.

Maybe it's more complicated.
I guess it depends what you mean by the ‘levelling up concept’, and what plans you would suggest are implemented to achieve it. And don’t underestimate the disruptive effect of bringing in new member states whose economies are not as mature as the established members. Rapid change is more likely to introduce stress and instability. The EU has always preferred to play a longer game.
 
And after Brexit, they will come from the next up and coming place. So, people from Hong Kong might indeed come and find a decent life here. There will still be work and life and trade in years to come.

Do many from Hong Kong have much experience of potato picking or warehouse work, or the food industry?
 
That doesn't look levelled up to me. Some of those countries have been the EU for donkeys years. They should have had enough time and assistance to become positive contributors, if we use the levelling up concept.

Maybe it's more complicated.
Then we have Italy who are on a cliff edge making a positive contribution of 6.7 billion Euro; well not really it is ECB loans going round in a circle.
 
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