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There'll be lots of talk about Customs Unions in the Suncay shows this morning #ridge #marr... so what do you need to know.. here's your handy @instituteforgov guide
First - the essential @awstojanovic guide to five things you need to know about a customs union instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/five-thin…
key is to remember it doesn't solve the Irish border.. you need to deal with Single Market as well for that...here's our guide to "frictionless trade" - with some fun graphics on integrated supply chains instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/f…
and a reminder of the potential costs of leaving the EU customs union instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/i…
we said in February 2017 that the Govt should show its workings on the pluses and minuses of leaving a customs union instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/should-uk…
MPs should have demanded assessments of the pros and cons before letting the govt trigger Article 50.
so how big a benefit is the vaunted independent trade policy. According to Govt economists not much.. they assumed the UK cd sign FTAs with 15 major economies and the EU did not - and that still only added 0.2-0.3% to GDP in 15 years instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/governmen…
and that assumes we can agree what that independent trade policy looks like.. The US are laying down their terms - and many Ministers and MPs don't like the look..instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/chickens-… #chlorinatedchickens
and to end up - unless "alternative arrangements" work, the PM has pretty much committed us to be in a customs union with the EU through the Irish backstop instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/no-easy-e…
and if Labour were honest they would admit that the PM's "deal" is as close as they can get to a legal commitment to a permanent customs union instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/labour-al…
its a bit hard to conclude other than that the country is about to tear itself apart over a muddle of semantics (permanent/non-permanent) which would give us a freedom Ministers may find it hard to use, which has little economic impact anway. ENDS
