Simon I enjoyed your article. One wonders if the incoming labour government might be keeping their powder dry and in their first term introduce the idea of joining the customs union like Norway. This must be one option to seriously consider to reverse the decline? Your comment on climate change impacting trade is interesting. One does wonder why it is Britain and the US spending a fortune firing rockets into Yemen, but the Chinese seem to be completely absent? Surely a lot of the goods travelling through this area come from China? Is it not in their interest to keep shipping safe? Why are they not there? Are they smarter than us by not getting trapped into a futile scrap with the Houthis in Yemen? How many sites do the Houthis have and how long can they keep causing disruption? according to Jeremy Bowan every missile we fire into Yemen costs 1 million pounds? Can we not find a better way to spend a million quid?
Thanks Graham. I'm very sceptical that Labour would attempt to rejoin the customs union in a second term. They would have to expend a large amount of political capital for a very suboptimal outcome (in the absence of single market membership too) and with considerable downsides in terms of democratic control without full EU membership. My suspicion/fear is that Labour will instead push for a bespoke new deal in which the EU is asked to provide enhanced market access in return for zero concessions. I would expect such cake-ism to receive the same short shrift from the EU as it did under Cameron, May and Johnson...!
Simon I enjoyed your article. One wonders if the incoming labour government might be keeping their powder dry and in their first term introduce the idea of joining the customs union like Norway. This must be one option to seriously consider to reverse the decline? Your comment on climate change impacting trade is interesting. One does wonder why it is Britain and the US spending a fortune firing rockets into Yemen, but the Chinese seem to be completely absent? Surely a lot of the goods travelling through this area come from China? Is it not in their interest to keep shipping safe? Why are they not there? Are they smarter than us by not getting trapped into a futile scrap with the Houthis in Yemen? How many sites do the Houthis have and how long can they keep causing disruption? according to Jeremy Bowan every missile we fire into Yemen costs 1 million pounds? Can we not find a better way to spend a million quid?
Thanks Graham. I'm very sceptical that Labour would attempt to rejoin the customs union in a second term. They would have to expend a large amount of political capital for a very suboptimal outcome (in the absence of single market membership too) and with considerable downsides in terms of democratic control without full EU membership. My suspicion/fear is that Labour will instead push for a bespoke new deal in which the EU is asked to provide enhanced market access in return for zero concessions. I would expect such cake-ism to receive the same short shrift from the EU as it did under Cameron, May and Johnson...!
Brilliant analysis!
Thank you!