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Brexit and the Falkland Islands: Potentially catastrophic?
Brexit could be “potentially catastrophic,” for the Falklands according to a recent UK newspaper article. And by all accounts it could have a serious impact if heavy tariffs were applied to goods exported from the Islands into the EU. But just how bad could it be? Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesAll doom and gloom. If they, the EU, want squid then they have to pay the going rate before and after Brexit. We survived before we entered the Common Market and am sure we will survive following us leaving.
Jul 06th, 2018 - 07:31 am - Link - Report abuse 0There was no Falklands fishing industry until long after the UK had entered the Common Market. In case you have forgotten, they were poor and neglected and the population had been dropping for years. There was no TV on the islands until the Argentine invasion.
Jul 06th, 2018 - 09:04 am - Link - Report abuse +1The Falklands currently has a huge advantage being able to sell to the EU tariff free, which offsets the disadvantages of the low volume and huge transport distance. Without that they will not be competitive, as the article says. The EU can buy squid from other places, and lamb is even more common.
Now, since you remember before we joined the Common Market, tell me; what was it like living then? Did you all have good jobs and plenty of money, was the economy growing fast? Do you think you had better opportunities than your children did?
Why is the British taxpayer subsidising the 30,000 (!) Falkanders so much. They must stand on their own feet if they want to continue to play this odd role as guardians of an imperial outpost in the 21st century.
Jul 06th, 2018 - 10:11 am - Link - Report abuse -5That doesn't make much sense, Pytangua. If they were really 'guardians of an imperial outpost', then wouldn't they deserve to be paid for their service? Anyway, the only thing the UK is subsidising is defence, and that is money spent on our own armed forces, not given to them.
Jul 06th, 2018 - 02:45 pm - Link - Report abuse +430,000 Falklanders? You are joking right?
Jul 06th, 2018 - 06:16 pm - Link - Report abuse +3Twaddle. The Falklands will be supported Brexit -Schmetzit. It will have priority among the priorities; simple as that.
Jul 06th, 2018 - 07:16 pm - Link - Report abuse +1After a period of adjustment, the Falklands (and the rest of the UK) will recover. All these predictions are based on such short time spans of the next few years.
Jul 07th, 2018 - 01:01 am - Link - Report abuse +3Australia and New Zealand had to do the same thing in 1973 when we lost much of the UK market. We took the opportunity to innovate and diversify so much so that our living standards are now much higher than the UK.
Skip- Australia and New Zealand had a lot of natural and geographic advantages- they reinvented their markets towards SE Asia and the upcoming populations closer to them. The only way that the Falklands could do that is by closer ties with Mercosul. They also don't have a lot of natural resources until the oil comes up (and there are lots of others with oil in the region who can exploit if cheaper than the FI).
Jul 07th, 2018 - 08:49 am - Link - Report abuse +4As for the UK - Germany is STILL wrestling with the effects of reunification almost 30 years later and that was two nations speaking the same language in the biggest market and population in the world, so Brexit will have a very serious effect on the markets, economy and growth of the UK which will set them back for decades.
I am unsure exactly what New Zealand's natural advantages are. And if you had any idea of the world and regional economy in the 70s then there wasn't exactly any geographic advantage unless you think the Vietnam War and Indonesian invasions of East Timor gave us some great opportunities when the distance from Melbourne to Singapore is the distance from the Falkland Islands to Colombia. And there is little language and cultural affinities with our closest trading partners.
Jul 07th, 2018 - 10:20 am - Link - Report abuse +1Tasmania/New Zealand don't have great resource advantages but are marketing themselves as clean and green agricultural producers (and tourist destinations) to the elites in Asia mainly due to their geographical isolation.
The Falklands have advantages, they just have to find them.
@Pytangua
Jul 07th, 2018 - 10:47 am - Link - Report abuse +3”Why is the British taxpayer subsidising the 30,000 (!) Falkanders so much.”
What do you mean?
They are financially self supporting so there are no subsidies from the UK.
They have been standing on their feet for along time. Even pre 1982, the Islands paid their way.
Also it is interesting that the population according to you has expanded by about 27,000 people overnight.
You seem to be confused by Argentina, a country that spends more than it earns and is an Imperialist outpost of a European people that in the main butchered the local population.
“The Falklands have advantages, they just have to find them.”
Jul 07th, 2018 - 02:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Post-Brexit Britain will be able to make arrangements with Europe. Europe doesn't claim that Britain was “stolen” from Europe and makes no outrageous territorial claims against Britain; Europe doesn't refuse to do business with Britain; Europe didn't invade Britain and leave behind thousands of land mines which it refuses to dispose of. If Argentina were ruled by rational people, the Falkland Islands would have a secure role to play in the economy of South America.
Well that's a bit of a coincidence....
Jul 08th, 2018 - 07:29 pm - Link - Report abuse -1R. Ben Madison
R e d
R. Ben Madison
B a R. on
What are talking about Skip...the Falklands is a barren windswept wasteland that is totally dependant on the UK to police its fisheries to enforce the licences...and a tariff free market with the EU...
Australia has plenty of natural resources a huge landmass and a plentiful population to promote them and without your Asian market you would be up the creek...
In the 1930s Australia restricted iron ore exports as it was believed that our mineral wealth was so low that we would run out of it for domestic consumption. Up until the 1960, Australia didn't even believe it had much mineral wealth and though this changed in the 1960/70s, other than a two short lived booms, our biggest mining boom didn't start until 2005.
Jul 09th, 2018 - 11:23 am - Link - Report abuse +2If you look at Australia and New Zealand's economic history, our loss of preferential trade with the UK in 1973 severely set back both countries. There was no backup at that time. There was no “Asian market” (the largest market was Japan which is the same distance Brazil is from the UK) and no “plentiful population” (13 million in 1973 was hardly a large and deep market or labour pool).
And what about New Zealand's plentiful population and natural resources? Not really there.... and they're not really that close to anywhere except Australia and everything they produce we also produce! So what options did NZ have in 1973?
That is the point, both Australia and New Zealand adapted and adjusted and no one now realises how difficult and traumatic the loss of the UK market was to us back then. Everyone just sees how well we adjusted and assumes that our economies were always this successful and orientated to Asia when in fact this is a recent development starting in the 1990s.
“the Falklands is a barren windswept wasteland”
And? It is still home to a nation of people and it still produces.
“totally dependant on the UK to police its fisheries to enforce the licences”
And? So what? This would only be an issue if the Falklands declared independence.
“and a tariff free market with the EU”
Well that is the point of this discussion isn't it! We once had a tariff free market with the UK..... and we moved on from that.
Just like the Falklands will. I'm not exactly sure how this will happen, but it looks like it will happen. After all, what other options does the Falkland Islands have?
None, but to adapt!
England will return the Malvinas within 25 years.
Jul 14th, 2018 - 12:47 am - Link - Report abuse 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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