Hi @BBCChrisMorris I just saw your @BBCRealityCheck report on the Customs Union just now on the @BBCNews channel. It dismays me somewhat that some viewers might be left with a false impression from a lack of context regarding access to the Customs Union.
In particular, this section where you state ".. but when goods enter the Customs Union from the rest of the world there is a common charge known as a tariff"

Some viewers might imply from this that ALL goods from ALL countries face a tariff when as you know, that's not the case.
The graphic, in particular, gives the impression that the Customs Union represents the construction of an external wall to trade when the reality is that is was the dismantling of the existing internal walls between member states.
The graphic also gives the impression of an impenetrable wall, whereas in reality, it's something more like this, with breaches fin the wall or substantially all goods originating in developing countries and countries with which we have free trade agreements.
When @BBCJoannaG tells us that the upcoming report is going to tell us EXACTLY what a Customs Union would mean the viewer should expert that the report does tell us EXACTLY and not somewhat partially.
Some might accuse me of being picky, but I think it's important. I often find myself having to explain to people that 70 countries currently have free trade deals with the EU and that the 47 least developed countries already have zero tariff access.
By omitting to mention the breaches in the Customs Union's external wall the impression can be left that the Customs Union is entirely negative unless one is trading solely within the EU.
The report does bring up Free Trade Deals a little later, but only in the context of the UK's future relationship with the EU. It doesn't indicate that this would also mean the EU's current free trade agreements would no longer apply and would have to be renegotiated.
Apologies for typos in this tweet. It should say "... something more like this, with breaches in the wall for substantially all goods originating in developing countries and countries with which we have free trade agreements."

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