advertisement


Brexit: give me a positive effect... XIV

Status
Not open for further replies.
Nah, the EU was never going to close loopholes - they say it a lot, but never act. I posted elsewhere that with the Netherlands at the top table and it being a recognised tax haven, plus Ireland, plus Luxembourg, plus Malta, plus Cyprus...and France's dubious accounting from the foreign currency it steals from its semi-colonies in Africa, the EU would have to do some significant alterations which would displease some individual members with a lot of power.
 
Thanks. Someone was on TV last night talking about practicalities of coming to the UK for 3 months - places to live, family issues, setting up bank accounts, hostile environments, etc. Not sure that's what the government had in mind when it said Global Britain is open for business. You can't help but think about what Boris said about business at this time.

There are reports in the papers of local businesses struggling with the lack of drivers (not to mention purist Brexit). Business owners are quite blunt in saying that if the situation doesn't change soon their businesses will go under.

Gov can say one thing, but drivers say this:

https://metro.co.uk/2021/09/27/foreign-lorry-drivers-say-they-wont-help-uk-out-of-the-s-they-created-15322913/?ito=facebook|social|metroukfacebook&fbclid=IwAR378bEuMvr9r2vdOg3WXQRSn6PGvXI2pwsEdGReAtNtb50icBo1hzYf6GM
 
Even the dates suggested for these 5000 visas are crazy: who's going to sign up to a temporary visa ending on Dec. 24th? Is the idea that they will all rush back home on the 24th before deportation kicks in? EU drivers remember many of their colleagues got stranded by the sh*t show last year and spent Christmas in a Kent parking lot instead of with their families. It's either complete thoughtlessness, a calculated insult or utter incompetence.
For many Europeans the most important family day is Christmas Eve, Dec 24th…
 
  • Like
Reactions: PsB
It'll make me unpopular, but I'm questioning some of these. The pound has been dropping in nominal value for quite some years. It had already done a 5% drop even before the Brexit referendum was called. To be frank it's fairly trivial because the desire for the rest of the world to want to hold the £ has not substantially waned and the currency (not being pegged or constrained is valuable). The price rises are real and partially a result of that, but the inflation claim put out is commonly a damp squib. There is no accelerating inflation recorded, it's simply not happening. Even if it rises by 10% and stays there that's a stable inflation rate and inflation is also a sign of economic growth.
The offshoring of financial assets might seem terrible, but in another sense it's not like e.g. offshoring of limited (officially at least) Euro financial assets. It's annoying that they do this offshoring, but the UK doesn't have to grasp them back before it can do anything in a fiscal capacity. It runs into the above where people want to hold £s, which could also be considered beneficial for the currency value.

The employment thing is a developing issue, so I'm reluctant to fall on either side right now. The stats seem to indicate that indeed the number of vacancies has risen (and labour available possibly proportionally), but the main sectors have been healthcare, public services, utilities and currently transportation. It shows two things: that Brexit really did shut off a conduit where UK companies could maintain a cheaper labour source (since then many returning eastern European EU citizens have discovered that since they left for the UK, things have improved at home and they can earn better and see families/not be an ex-pat). So the 'personnel crisis', overwhelmingly in lower pay sectors, has actually been a story of companies resisting against paying the market rate for wages and reducing the quality of working conditions. They're now finding that full UK citizens with more stability than a foreign worker, are unwilling to take substandard conditions. That is the 'crisis' for a private business sector which has grown to expect easy profit and high control of wage suppression. This is likely to effect a change they can't wriggle out of and may well be a 'Brexit benefit'...shock horror.

The exports thing is 50/50. The Brexit situation certainly slows down the trade conditions in both directions, but the UK has rarely (if ever) run an export account surplus anyway (and this shouldn't be relied upon). Exports are also a cost compared to imports which for a currency sovereign is the mere exchange of issue for actual goods! The loss of some imports and the reduction of some exports can have a knock on effect for stimulating both domestic production and domestic consumption. Which is by no means a bad thing, but requires a government with considerably more foresight and vision than the ones who keep taking power. Whether the situation significantly affects the UK's ability to acquire outside raw materials remains to be seen. I think we'll have to wait to see what happens.

The other things in the list are pretty much what they are. The Northern Ireland issue is the most problematic.
Good post but certain to be largely ignored by the usual suspects.
 

T'would be a tad ironic if one of the tangible outcomes of Brexit was the reemergence of a powerful group of transport workers unions in Britain. Not I'm sure what the founding fathers of the concept quite expected.
 
A spike in wages for drivers and other sectors which depend on itinerant labour could be the first benefit of Brexit I've seen yet.
 
Nah, the EU was never going to close loopholes - they say it a lot, but never act. I posted elsewhere that with the Netherlands at the top table and it being a recognised tax haven, plus Ireland, plus Luxembourg, plus Malta, plus Cyprus...and France's dubious accounting from the foreign currency it steals from its semi-colonies in Africa, the EU would have to do some significant alterations which would displease some individual members with a lot of power.

Les Shadoks?
 
A spike in wages for drivers and other sectors which depend on itinerant labour could be the first benefit of Brexit I've seen yet.

In the interests of balance, worth noting that a similar thing is happening in Ireland. The hospitality sector here - notorious for low wages and not always the best working conditions - is complaining bitterly that they just cant get trained staff in sufficient numbers at present. There is one view that is largely due to a sizeable chunk of the workforce still on furlough/receiving pandemic welfare support payments, but another that many of the non-Irish nationals have either found better paying jobs, or returned to their home countries.

When the pandemic payment schemes get phased out, the picture should become clearer.
 
What? Those bloody Europeans again, refusing to help out when we need their help? Don’t they remember the war? Ungrateful bastards!

And who helped UK? Biggest army? India. Biggest mineral source. Congo. Biggest monies, army, supplies support. USA. etc etc.
I think UK should stop looking at the world as a chosen nation, than we would not have disaster like brexit..
 
To quote the Carpenters....."we've only just begun". This mess is going to get a whole lot worse - economic decline by a thousand cuts.
However, I think "told you so" is probably appropriate whenever you feel like it as the trend is clear..:(

i-informed-you-thusly-sheldon.gif
 
I see you tactfully left out a few juicy ones, such as increased red, white and blue tape, 50000 extra customs paperwork people, loss of Erasmus, loss of rights to travel, work and live elsewhere in Europe, not to mention the increased risk of the breakup of the UK.

Not to mention the trashing of the UK's reputation on the world stage...
 
Ongoing Brexit effect part #2453: racist far-right terrorist group connected to Jo Cox muder ‘Britain First’ now registered as a political party (BBC).

Brexit: enabling fascism since 2015.

When a terrorist organisation is approved as a political party, then it really shows how far down the road to fascism we have gone. It's utterly terrifying.

But I'm just a 'hard remainer' so what I say isn't important...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.


advertisement


Back
Top