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Hard Brexit: UK to leave the single market and Parliament will vote on the final deal, pledges PM May

Tuesday, January 17th 2017 - 17:08 UTC
Full article 17 comments

Prime Minister Theresa May has said the UK “cannot possibly” remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean “not leaving the EU at all”, but at the same time promised to push for the “greatest possible” access to the single market following Brexit. Read full article

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  • Voice

    I quite liked the strategy of, if there is not a good deal then there will be no deal with the EU and WTO tariffs will apply...
    The Germans won't like that at all they were all thinking Britain would be begging for a good deal...
    Ha...I dropped Bosch tools for Dewalt cordless anyway...and my Dewalt boots...an American company...
    ..will they be cheaper with a good US deal...I hope so...;-)

    Jan 17th, 2017 - 06:02 pm - Link - Report abuse -5
  • El Diego

    Leaving the largest free market on the planet is economic suicide for the UK right wing radicals. Soon they will also leave the Malvinas

    Jan 17th, 2017 - 07:27 pm - Link - Report abuse -4
  • Kanye

    Another boring self-referential commentary from that tool, Think/voice.

    Jan 17th, 2017 - 10:20 pm - Link - Report abuse +3
  • The Voice

    Usual squawking from North of the border. The thought of the handouts being stopped freaked Wonder Woman out.

    Jan 17th, 2017 - 10:29 pm - Link - Report abuse +1
  • brasherboot

    85% of the global market awaits.

    For those that say its economic suicide: it means we trade under WTO like the USA does. But it gives the UK flexibility with its own agreements.

    The UK is a highly driven, dynamic, agile, business oriented country. It IS the correct approach to unleash ourselves from the monolithic, socialist, plodding EU. Like privatisation and moving away from nationalisation, the UK leads the rest eventually (and jealously) follows

    Jan 18th, 2017 - 07:54 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Brit Bob

    There is a trade imbalance in favour of the European Union so it is in the interest of the EU to make amicable arrangements with the United Kingdom. What's more, the UK can do its own trade deals on a one-to-one basis instead of having the EU to deal 27 member states before it makes a trade deal.
    The UK has opted for a hard Brexit especially when one country (or part of a country in Belgium) can stall negotiations for so long. Spain could act in a similar fashion over Gibraltar and has the cheek to maintain its Gibraltar sovereignty claim. Claim?

    Gibraltar - Some Relevant International Law: https://www.academia.edu/10575180/Gibraltar_-_Some_Relevant_Internationa...

    So it looks like a quick hasta luego !

    Jan 18th, 2017 - 10:17 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Fidel_CasTroll

    ”The UK is a highly driven, dynamic, agile, business oriented country. It IS the correct approach to unleash ourselves from the monolithic, socialist, plodding EU. Like privatisation and moving away from nationalisation, the UK leads the rest eventually (and jealously) follows”

    The facts don't bear this out. In the 50s and 60s, when Germany, France, and Italy were in the ECU or whatever it was called, they were booming. The UK was out and it languished, leading up to the early 70s when it had to be BAILED OUT by the IMF.

    What makes you think this time will be different for the UK. Sure maybe the EU doesn't boom either (maybe they are too rigid in their laws and trade), but that doesn't mean anything for the UK. You had 2 decades back then and under all measures the UK lagged well behind.

    Jan 18th, 2017 - 12:42 pm - Link - Report abuse -1
  • Clyde15

    Yes we were bailed out BUT WE PAID IT BACK ! I presume as an Argie you cannot grasp this context. Anyway your opinion matters not a whit.

    My Bosch drill was made in Switzerland and some De Walts are made in Mexico.

    I recently bought a new 20v brushless drill from Homebase reduced from £150 to £88,
    I got fed up with my previous NiCad model running out of juice after a short period of use.

    Jan 18th, 2017 - 02:02 pm - Link - Report abuse +2
  • Kanye

    Fidel Nostrils

    1950's was sixty+ years ago.

    What is your point?

    Not relevant to Brexit of 2018, no matter how much you wish Britain to fail, or how much you wish to demoralize us.

    Post-war Europe had US money and expertise to help rebuild their economies.

    Jan 18th, 2017 - 03:32 pm - Link - Report abuse +2
  • DemonTree

    “The UK is a highly driven, dynamic, agile, business oriented country.”

    How come we couldn't succeed in the EU then? Plenty of other countries in Northern Europe are doing fine, but the UK has been struggling ever since 2008. One of the big reasons for people voting out was the deterioration/lack of improvement in the standard of living.

    Apparently it has escaped people's notice that ambitious young people working for dynamic, agile businesses mostly voted to stay in, and it was older and poorer people who voted out.

    Oh, and the UK also had American money and expertise to rebuild the economy after the war, I guess things would have been even worse without it.

    Also Argentina paid back the IMF too, even when they stiffed their other creditors. They're not the sort of organisation you can afford to cross.

    Jan 18th, 2017 - 07:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • The Voice

    Struggled? Every country struggled and here we are with one of the highest growth rates in the developed world, a magnet for workers, relatively low youth and general unemployment. Most leavers I know voted out because of mass immigration causing a crisis in housing and public services, barmy European laws and justice, lowest wages being forced down to Eastern European levels and general overcrowding. Younger folk have never known anything other than the EU. We all have our opinions about what will happen but the doomsayers have been totally wrong so far. It remains to be seen if the banksters move out. They threatened it in 2008 and they are still here.

    Jan 19th, 2017 - 03:33 pm - Link - Report abuse +1
  • DemonTree

    @The Voice
    Yes, struggled. Wages are still below 2008 levels if you take inflation into account. After six years of austerity and cuts to services we have a crisis in health care, in prisons, and teachers are retiring in droves, but the national debt is still growing.

    Other EU countries have 'enjoyed' more immigration than Britain but seem to be coping fine, and the housing crisis was not caused by immigration, but by our own government's counterproductive policies. There was already a problem before 2004, high immigration just exacerbated the situation. A growing population is not a bad thing in itself, it's only a problem if you don't invest in the infrastructure.

    People didn't vote out because they were happy with the status quo, after all. It didn't feel like the economy was growing, and standards of living have not been improving.

    Jan 19th, 2017 - 07:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • The Voice

    3 million immigrants - only 500000 new houses = housing crisis. 1% interest rates on your savings = result buy to let investors buying up property making property scarce and ramping up rents at the same time. Wages depressed by hordes of immigrants willing to work for less. Outrage at EU courts preventing Britain deporting criminals and criminal agitators who want to destroy our culture and murder us. With new houses come infrastructure, the developer incorporates the cost into new developments. Housing is not infrastructure. Infrastructure is roads, schools, hospitals etc. Standards of living are now improving after the banksters ruined the economy. “Things can only get better”, but they didnt, they got worse.

    Jan 19th, 2017 - 08:19 pm - Link - Report abuse -1
  • Paragon

    Some interesting Tweets after her speech

    UK public voted for Brexit “with their eyes wide open,” says #TheresaMay.

    Problem is those eyes were looking at a bus with bullshit on it

    “I want access to your snooker club but I won't pay for entry. I'll need to borrow your cues. And I want to play pool instead”- T. May

    Theresa May's Brexit speech is like your shithead boyfriend wanting to break up but still wants to shag you whenever he wants #BrexitSpeech

    Just a small sample of funny reactions to May's speech by people in the UK

    Jan 19th, 2017 - 08:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • DemonTree

    @The Voice
    And why were there only 500,000 new houses? Britain isn't Singapore, there is enough land to build on. The government could have either built houses itself, or relaxed the planning laws that make land with planning permission cost 50 times more than that without. It's a supply and demand problem, and the government has consistently refused to do anything to increase supply. There isn't even a tax on empty properties; that would probably help a bit in certain areas.

    As for lower wages, immigration has contributed, but so have the austerity measures that have been giving Public Sector workers wage cuts for the last 8 years, as has the bad economy in general. Other countries in the EU have done more to ensure wages stay high, they are the ones with higher unemployment now mostly.

    How many criminals have 'EU courts' prevented us from deporting anyway? The UK was one of the main founders of the European Court of Human rights, it will be a pretty bad sign for the world if we leave.

    @Paragon
    LOL. The eyes wide open thing was probably the biggest lie in it. The vast majority of Leave voters I have encountered refuse to believe that there is any downside at all to leaving.

    Jan 19th, 2017 - 08:41 pm - Link - Report abuse +1
  • The Voice

    The public sector became seriously overpaid with no risk and gold plated pensions. Thats being corrected.the very low paid have been assisted by the living wage and tax cuts, so have tbe poorest pensioners.

    Every local authority area has a quota of new housing to be built by developers imposed on them. I agree its not nearly enough. Our village has a community.plan to say where these new houses will be built. More council housing that should remain council houses should be built. The spare room subsidy removal makes an even playing field between public and private rentals, it has made more houses available to families.

    Some very high profile foreign criminals have cost us dear to finally remove. You read the newspapers. Abu Hamsa? Our gaols are full of immigrant criminals.

    There is a short to medium economic downside to leaving, but in the end it will benefit Britain.

    Jan 19th, 2017 - 09:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • DemonTree

    Oh, so you don't think public sector pay cuts were actually necessary, austerity was just an excuse and it was really a Tory plot?

    You must be living in a different country to me, because in the Britain where I live, public sector workers are paid markedly less than private sector ones, their jobs are not at all secure, and while older people are still getting their gold-plated pensions (paid for by our taxes), people my age and younger are left with crappy money-purchase schemes.

    But I'm glad you agree that more houses should be built. IMO, the current government is reluctant to do anything that would really lower house prices because most of their voters are older people who already own homes. All their stupid schemes have been ways to allow more people to pay the current extortionate prices, which is completely counter productive. The prices need to come down, and we need enough houses to be built to allow that.

    As for the criminals, them being high profile just proves that outrage sells papers. How many have really been blocked by the European Courts and what problems have they caused? As for the jails being full of immigrants, I just looked up some figures, and I make it 11.3% of criminals in British jails are foreign, compared to 8.5% in the general population. So they are over represented, but not massively.

    And no one knows if leaving the EU will ultimately benefit Britain. There are too many variables and unknowns. But the chances are we'll do worse outside than we would have done if we'd stayed in the single market.

    Jan 19th, 2017 - 11:18 pm - Link - Report abuse +1

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