Please correct me if I'm wrong...
Buttercupdays
Posts: 4,546
I would like to be wrong, but as I understand it, this is what will happen.
When we leave the EU, all trade agreements with EU members, and all agreements negotiated via the EU will be null and void.
All imports from those places will cease, until new agreements are negotiated, under different tariff arrangements.
So, when I go shopping after B Day, the fruit and veg aisles will be empty, apart from any veg that will grow in Lincolnshire. No more Mediterranean diet, back to the mediaeval one.
There will be other gaps across all the aisles, probably more than I can calculate, as the lack of ingredients will affect many processed foods and we don't realise where so many of the things we buy come from. Definitely no more foreign beers or wines though, unless we have independent trade agreements with the countries of origin.
It will all be more expensive.
As gardeners, we will presumably have no more bulbs to plant, unless they are British raised, there will be fewer plants (so many imported) or cut flowers (likewise) or interesting and exotic seed varieties to buy.
Fuel of all kinds will be in short supply, more expensive or simply unavailable, car parts un-buyable...
I can't bear to go on.
If I am wrong. please tell me why.
|If not; What Can we/ Must we Do About It?
I use my vote. It is not enough.
Posts
I'm not meaning to be cruel, but Brexit is by far the most stupid thing you have done in modern times. I don't think you will starve, as buisnesses know this is coming, so they will negotiate in advance. But, I live in the EU, and if I buy something online, it will no longer be from you as the postage is a hell of a lot higher from non EU countries. Amazon UK will have a tough time as an example, now I will only use Amazon in Germany instead (they have even started having an english version, so not even that more people speak english than german will work in your favour).
The people voting yes to Brexit, probably thought about some time long ago that they don't fully remember and when you had colonies to build your fortune on, but things have changed, it's a new world and anything like that won't work.
That's why we need a negotiated interim phase ... As for what we can do about it , damn all ...
Last edited: 11 February 2018 09:36:00
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Welcome to the world we lived in when younger than you it would seem. Pre-war we relied on 70% of our food coming from the then Empire plus onions and smelly cheeses from France. During the war we upped production by digging up Parks Woods hedges and Roadside verges with still imports from the then Empire. this went on until some one in Government thought it a good idea to throw away our independence, except Charles De Gaulle decided otherwise. Then back they went on bended knee and pleaded to be let in which led to our Financial section crashing in Flames as we joined and left the Euro. Since then we have been at the beck and call of minor European dictators as to what we can do with our own country and people resulting in being unable to get very Major wrongdoers who came into the country with the idea of doing us down back out again costing us the Tax payers millions.
In our fridges and freezers we have food from Asia, Africa, South America, New Zealand and Australia so we do not rely solely on the EU with all it own ills. Where a market opening occurs there is a gap to fill with business people wanting to fill it. As the song goes we will survive as we always did before Europe was able to be our bread basket we had many bread baskets and you know what they say one supplier means top price to pay. I rest my case.
Frank.
Woe, woe, and thrice woe. The world will end on the day Brexit kicks in! The reality is that in the event no other agreement is reached (highly unlikely despite all the brinkmanship), WTO rules would apply.
We won't be locked in the UK eating grass.
Fire Lily's comment about those who voted for Brexit is insulting to over half of those who voted. I know people of all ages and backgrounds who voted for Brexit, just as I know people of all aged and backgrounds who voted to stay.
Any blame for a 'wrong' decision can be laid squarely at UK politicians, particularly those at the top over the past 20 years who have routinely lied to further their own aims. I believe that in the UK we are in a position where most people have the default position that any politician is less interested in the truth than in further their own aims.
You only have to look at the bull spouted by all sides about what the effect of Brexit would be to see confirmation of that.
I'm not so sure there'll be any veg from Lincolnshire either given that we Brits don't apparently do manual labour in freezing cold muddy fields. A Belgian friend was horrified that such a complex and important decision was being left to 'the will of the people' but the Tories needed to try and control their troops. It's very sad
Fire Lily I well remember what Sweden and Switzerland did during the war, they existed under extreme conditions solely because it was in certain interests for them to do so and they managed to profit from it. Surely a worse situation than us leaving the EU with no interest in us or our country other than imposing their will and milking us dry. The Eu will change quite rapidly in the future and I see with all the uprisings of various sections wanting independence from their Mother countries not being in existence a few years into the future. We all have opinions and I object to being called stupid for voting the way we did, there was much reasoning behind that vote that some people are now trying to wreck for their own profit.
Frank.
Two people that can't see the difference between calling a decision stupid and calling people stupid. Nice.
And since when is Sweden bleeding you dry? And what does Swedens function as a lifeboat for people like my family during WWII have to do with a financial decision 70 years later in another country?
Fire Lily. Calling what people voted for as stupid is read as the people who voted are stupid only we Brits say OK that is democracy and let it rest. In the interest of fair play I voted against Brexit but my Family outvoted me en-mass for it, I did not say they were stupid I accepted their choice.
History to many is rubbish but to a History buff it is relevant in that all things go in circles and what I see are rising right wing groups reaching into government in many countries, they may not be there yet but could be very quickly if another calamity like the Migrant crisis should happen again all caused by other dictators far from Europe.
Sweden had no choice by 1940 they were surrounded and it was not their choice it suited the opponents to keep it Neutral some more than others but all sides took advantage of the fact, sorry but that is also History and one that should be read and noted.
There will be a bit of a hoo ha then it will settle and be back to normal only instead of being milked by something we have no control of we will be masters of our own destiny.
Frank.
Votes for brexit were built on lies and deception. Brexiteers all believed that they would benefit from the money on the side of the bus. Good luck with that one!
Brexit and trump supporters believed that any change at all had to be better than the status quo.
I didn't start this thread to stir up animosity between different factions, though that is sadly always a risk.
I ask because I don't know enough, I have said what I think is correct.
What I believe will not affect what will happen in real life.
I try to read both sides and sort out the facts from the propaganda. But there is far too much heat, and not enough light, and a disturbing absence of reasoned argument a lot of the time.
The interim phase will only be there if there is a deal...?
I understand that we could operate under WTO rules, but we need to have agreed the trade deals first and there is not much sign of that at present...?
I know that we managed to live without the EU, but that was when we did have trade deals set up and we did have an empire to exploit. We might eventually get some trade arrangements set up, but will there be enough in place before B Day?
I agree that much could be done to improve the EU and the level of bureaucracy, but we can't influence that, or benefit from it as much in other ways, if we are outside it.
Last edited: 11 February 2018 11:11:23