Vauxhall are basically rebadged Peugeots. It's mental to think people thought this was a good idea when we have no heavy industries or manufacturing to export, all we can muster up are soft services and expertise which India etc. also do but for cheaper, or unreliable luxury motors which are out of reach for many.
vauxhall were gm till 2017. After brexit. they are opel cars in Europe and Peugeot/Citroën bought it. so what does this tell us? why would they even want to make cars in the UK for the European Market? Honda pulled back to Japan. Ford? Nissan? let's see how this develops with the sunny uplands view
If the Remain champion, Keir Starmer, has ruled out re-joining the Single Market or Customs Union, then we will be in the shit for another decade at least.
They are but if we aren't willing to budge on accepting Customs Union rules, or some form of free movement of people, then we are unlikely to make any significant improvements. The Europeans will be perfectly happy that their car manufacturers, and rivals in other industries, have a comparative advantage over their UK rivals. Labour cannot possibly do a worse job than the Tories, but it doesn't sound like Starmer is willing to risk any political capital on pushing for a closer relationship with the EU than we currently have.
The further away from Brexit we get the closer we will get to the EU. I think the fact Sunak was able to renegotaiate the NI protocol and essentially give NI greater access to the EU than the rest of the country - and the Tory backbenchers got in line, despite Johnson and Truss agitating - shows that it's only going one way. Starmer shouldn't be afraid of it. He should get ahead of it.
He may not be saying anything at the moment, but with up to 18 months to the next election there's plenty of time for him to perform another screeching U-turn. Even after that he'll have 5 years (hopefully) to do the sensible things that may at last make some sense of the complete bollocks the Tories have made of Brexit.
I guess the question is, do the Tories get more Brexit-y or less Brexit-y. I think the latter. The NI protocol, saw Tory MPs are calling for a loosening of immigration rules to deal with staff shortages. The car production story cannot be explained away as some lefty liberal nonsense. If the Tories get less Brexit-y then t gives license for the other parties to do so too, since they won't be able to claim Labour will just reverse Brexit.
I could of course be horribly wrong but I understood the issue with the car story is where the batteries are made, ie outside the EU?
the reality of this situation is you have a rather large 500million people block who have at their core some very protectionist countries, like France. the EU will look after its own and especially the big block countries. so as much as the UK wants to believe it can get a better deal one will not come. this lot tied up a trade deal with Canada for 10 years over some part of Belgium whinging about something ridiculous. my view is the UK is likely to very very very slowly and gradually seep back towards the EU so nobody notices the changes until the UK are in effect a satellite state with all the requirements and none of the benefits of membership. of course at times in the future the tories will get back in and stoke up anti EU sentiment to get elected and will do something stupid. it's somehow that the EU dictate where the batteries.must come from
It's about the percentage of the total vehicle that's imported, and since the battery is 40% of an EV it automatically falls foul of the EU agreement as it stands.
Perhaps it's time for Starmer to step out from his 'Mr Boring' image and test the waters about our relationship with the EU, if the polls turn against him he would still have time to change his mind like he did on tuition fees.
I’d be surprised if that’s not the ultimate goal though. Look at Norway and Switzerland- they both rejected EU membership in referendums but ended up drifting towards essentially being in the EU without being able to vote on things. Reminds me that the Good Friday Agreement always had the end goal of a United Ireland really Already most polls now show that a clear majority think we were wrong to leave the EU, I think a gradual shift towards a Norway or Switzerland style arrangement which is clearly inferior to being an actual EU member is most likely. Not sure about Scotland but I’d expect Northern Ireland will likely unite with Ireland over this whole mess too. Still can’t believe there are people out there who still think Brexit was anything other than a ridiculously stupid idea for the uk.
People need to realise that if you live near a black hole you will get dragged towards it eventually. the EU is bigger by population than the USA, half the states are not very wealthy but that is slowly changing. It is the market in the region. Whether you are north, south or east. Like it or not when you've 60million trading to 500million there is an imbalance of trade and power and you will have to live with thier rules like it or not. The myth of we will trade with "others" is precisely that, we can also trade with others but the giant black hole of the EU will suck in trade by proximity and be the majority of what the UK will do. Switzerland cannot ignore being surrounded and its workforce commuting in and out (quite a bit of it does) Norway cannot simply ignore the EU either. No matter how much the brexiteers whinge they will be slowly dragged to the customs union event horizon. The way i saw it and still see it is that we voted away all power and vetos while ignoring the truth of having to accept the same EU regulations, laws and so forth as a trading partner.
Exactly it’s like when Brexiteers were campaigning for CANZUK, an agreement with small countries which are fecking hundreds of miles away. It would’ve been worth something like 0.2% of the equivalent of being in the EU. Whichever way you try and spin it, the EU isn’t perfect but any other equivalent trade deal is barely going to be worth 1/100th of being in the EU is when we are where we are geographically. And all other countries looking for trade deals in the area will always choose the EU over the UK so the idea we can somehow magically beat out the EU to get other trade deals our way is naive to say the least. And in terms of geopolitical influence,, which is impossible to escape and be sucked into one “world power’s”grip then I’d far far rather be on the side of the EU than the side of the US, Russia or China. edit: in response to @Lugna rambler ’s post.
