When the European project comes along, we don't want to be a part of it because how it affects our relationship to the Commonwealth and the Sterling area.
@PKBook22@heywoodbill@tconnellyRTE We want to be part of a political union, but when it comes to a Common Market, that means a Common Currency and a Customs Union, that's a double whammy.
We want a free trade area that maintains our Commonwealth ties.
@PKBook22@heywoodbill@tconnellyRTE When negotiations for that fail, we feel forced to join the Common Market to solve our economic problems.
@PKBook22@heywoodbill@tconnellyRTE Needless to say, when Labour take power and announce they want to join the Common Market, they are now saying that they want people to pay more for food, to abandon the Commonwealth, and there is no guaranteed economic return.
They don't make the economic argument.
@PKBook22@heywoodbill@tconnellyRTE Labour focus on talking about the "Common Market" as a project which we are joining for the political benefits of building a future Europe.
When they refer to "The Common Market" the actual economic machinery is incidental to the argument.
The term "The Common Market" is contextualized to what it actually is. A political project, not a common market.
@PKBook22@heywoodbill@tconnellyRTE But before the Conservatives can take over the negotiation, we have the devaluing of the pound, food inflation, and that is expected to get worse because of CAP.
@PKBook22@heywoodbill@tconnellyRTE The British public aren't too keen on this Common Market concept of a Common Agricultural policy and what it does to the price of butter.
@PKBook22@heywoodbill@tconnellyRTE When Labour give up the ghost, the political side had been the entire argument for 3 years. 'The Common Market' is a political project we are joining for political reasons, and the economic argument was barely mentioned.
@PKBook22@heywoodbill@tconnellyRTE And now Heath takes over when discussion of the economic argument gets people very angry about the inflation, so the economic argument, is not the focus of the sales pitch.
@PKBook22@heywoodbill@tconnellyRTE The pro-Marketeers act to distance themselves from the idea that we are going into it economically by saying "This is not about the price of butter".
@PKBook22@heywoodbill@tconnellyRTE Nobody sells the Common Market as a Common Market, because that means selling something that puts people's prices up in the shops and abandons the Commonwealth by design.
Literally nobody wants a Common Market.
@PKBook22@heywoodbill@tconnellyRTE The economic case was that we pay more money, abandon sterling, abandon Commonwealth, redivert the trade for economic benefits that only half the economists in this country believe will come.
This is not something to sell the European project on.
@PKBook22@heywoodbill@tconnellyRTE If the economists are split down the middle, it's really not a winning argument. Especially when there are upfront economic costs.
@PKBook22@heywoodbill@tconnellyRTE Indeed, Duncan in your clip refers to the size of the market, but not in the absence of the arguments that make it clear that this is a United Europe project, not an economic project.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
William claims he refused to campaign for the European Communities while also saying it did not infringe on our sovereignty.
The Community involved some sacrifice of sovereignty, it would be less than honest not to say that. In a sense we should give up some of our political sovereignty.
1. Dear @mariannaspring, you don’t know me, but I work on breaking up a particular conspiracy theory, and if you have time, I’d really like to talk to you about a possible story for BBC Verify. 🧵
2. Here in the book ‘The Great Deception’, co-written by conspiracy theorist Christopher Booker, a reference to the 1996 BBC documentary ‘The Poisoned Chalice’ is used as proof that Edward Heath was not giving us the whole story.
3. While the programme does not support the claim, it does claim that while plans for Monetary Union were being discussed during the negotiations, they “went far beyond anything in the minds of most MPs”.
This is why I think the CPTPP deal isn't a great deal. I'm not against it, but the cumulation gain is of greater benefit to companies located in the other signatories than to UK industry.
Another example of the government putting bragging rights over British companies.
Cumulation is a good thing, but it is more likely to be a factor among countries that are geographically closer.
And when I think about CPTPP it's very difficult to forget there are low wage economies and high-tech economies and conclude that's quite a good recipe for cumulation.
"This is a win against all those disdainful Europhiles who said that an independent Britain would be too weak and unimportant to run its own trade policy."
Those 'Europhiles' were in equal number to the Brexiteers who said the same thing.
If every one of their strawmen had a vote, we'd have won the referendum by a landslide.
"The UK and China applied for CPTPP membership within six months of each other in 2021. Our accession provides us with a veto on other members joining the agreement"
A kick in the teeth when you remember we could always veto Turkey...