MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Brexit controversy: UK major business call on PM May to preserve free trade with Europe
A group of major business lobby groups has written an open letter urging the United Kingdom government to preserve barrier free trade with Europe. The letter is signed by leaders of the Confederation of British Industry, CBI, and manufacturers' body the EEF. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesWhere do these greedy people get their figures from? As I understand it, WTO rules limit tariffs between countries to 3%. Certainly there are rules against punitive tariffs. But articles are starting to appear in the British press about the certainty of price rises. This may require new legislation so that a supplier imposing a price increase of more than 3% should have their ill-gotten gains seized. We have seen this before. It happened with decimalisation of our country. Prices do increase over time. But a newspaper used to cost around 2 old pence. Nowadays, one would be pressed to find one on sale for less than 20 new pence. That's profiteering. It happened again with the change from imperial to metric measure. Take the two together and one can probably identify 1,500% profiteering. AND it's yet another attempt to obstruct the will of the British people, democratically expressed. Consideration should be given to indicting such “business” people on charges leading to suitable periods of imprisonment.
Oct 10th, 2016 - 01:03 pm - Link - Report abuse +3@1
Oct 10th, 2016 - 01:32 pm - Link - Report abuse +3Not to mention product size decreasing - latest being the the Terry's chocolate orange (now Satsuma sized).
http://www.unilad.co.uk/grub/terrys-chocolate-oranges-just-ruined-christmas/
@1 Conqueror
Oct 10th, 2016 - 02:42 pm - Link - Report abuse +3“This may require new legislation so that a supplier imposing a price increase of more than 3% should have their ill-gotten gains seized.”
Oooh, price controls; what a great idea. We *have* seen this before - in Venezuela.
And the price of newspapers has gone up, oh woe. Have you never heard of inflation?
As for price rises, the pound has fallen and is likely to fall further. Many things for sale in Britain are imported, most importantly oil. These now cost more to buy. It's not rocket science.
They would be better advised to lobby the EU.
Oct 10th, 2016 - 02:53 pm - Link - Report abuse +3UK Govt is already willing to have free trade.
EU insists on free movement unless you are Belgium, Switzerland or apparently ....in the next few months.....Germany.
@2
Oct 10th, 2016 - 03:46 pm - Link - Report abuse +2Talking about product size. If you were to open a a product in a cardboard package you will most likely find that the actual product fills 58% of the packaging and the remaining 42% is empty space. I have written to several companies as regards this but have yet to receive an answer. ( this is in the UK ) Personally I am not surprised.
Everyone keeps trying to negotiate this deal 6 months before the first meeting has even taken place.
Oct 10th, 2016 - 05:37 pm - Link - Report abuse +2Business people most of all should know this, I suppose they are just laying down their wish list early.
What she fails to point out is that the costs are both ways, where the EU runs a £70Bn trade surplus with the UK.
Tits May is still dithering and Hammond is trying to overturn the will of the people for getting out of the EU completely by actively allowing the pound to fall through the floor, ably assisted by the Canuck BoE Governor.
Oct 10th, 2016 - 06:04 pm - Link - Report abuse -1Tits and these two should be careful to ensure only the immigrants that are needed to run the economy and essential services are allowed in. Anything more than that is going to ensure the Conservatives get their just deserts at the next election.
Manufacturing is still struggling with foreign competition despite having record drops in Sterling. Years of neglect by all political parties cannot make manufacturing unwanted products attractive.
Exports / manufacturing account for less than 8% of the national workforce. No wonder the government doesn't care.
@7 ChrisR
Oct 10th, 2016 - 06:33 pm - Link - Report abuse +4The latest fall in the pound is due to fears of 'hard Brexit', exactly what *you* want to happen. So don't start blaming Hammond and Carney.
As for trying to overturn the will of the people, the choice we were given was stay or leave. No one voted on hard or soft Brexit, or specific policies. Some leave campaigners, notably Boris Johnson, claimed that Britain could control immigration and stay in the single market. What makes you think that wasn't what a majority of leave voters wanted?
How do you decide exactly which immigrants are needed for essential services? Conservatives like to say it causes inefficiencies when governments meddle in the market, does this not apply to staffing too?
I agree about manufacturing by the way, but the government should have addressed that *before* Brexit.
@Pugol-H
Yes, it will hurt the EU too if we default to WTO rules. But the EU is bigger than the UK so more able to absorb the damage, and they are probably willing to take some damage anyway in order to discourage other members from leaving.
The falling pound has as much to do with anti Brexit pressure, as with Brexit,
Oct 10th, 2016 - 07:43 pm - Link - Report abuse +3And Holland did not help with his silly rhetoric and the mysterious crash,
People must have more confidence in Britain instead of some [ MPs and others]
who continually slag the country of,
Rightly or wrongly, the people voted democratically to leave,
so All MPs should respect this,
if they indeed respect democracy, but no doubt some will argue till doomsday,
JCB today has left the CBI ,
Sterling falls to record low against top trading partners
By Tim Wallace
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/10/06/sterling-falls-to-record-low-against-top-trading-partners/
The expert at the telegraph gives his verdict,
Most of us don't fully understand it,
but one thing is certain for all those with an anti British , Brexit agenda,
if we get hurt, so will they, if we suffer, so will they,
so both should act like mature adults and allow us to go without all the threats .
just an opinion.
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