Three months later than usual @ONS have published UK National Accounts for 2018.

This series of tweets will draw attention to the financial mess #Brexit is creating for the United Kingdom.

We hear about UK national debt a lot, but not much on trade and UK balance of payments. In their quarterly reports @ons have been warning us that UK trade deficit with EU was actually improving while trade with non-EU Rest of the World (ROW) was heading the opposite direction, despite #Brexiteers telling us that this is where our future lies!

One of the bizarre notions of #Brexit voters is that paying x billion into EU to run the common market gives EU consumers a duty to buy British products rather than an opportunity to market UK exports. This British delusion about how trade works is illustrated by Brexit voting idiots saying stuff like “we pay 40m for a trade deficit of 150m”. They confuse foreign trade with buying things abroad. Producing and marketing stuff that foreign consumers actually want is beyond them.

Thread:
Lately I have become a bit obsessed with Britain’s trade deficit and Balance of Payments with the Rest of The World(ROW). Let me explain why, and what’s it got to do with #Brexit. For me as a UK-expat in Euroland I have seen the value of my pension drop by 20% since the dreaded referendum.

Q: How many Leave voters does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: I don’t know, they never really thought about it Q: How many Leave voters does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: We got on perfectly well before lightbulbs

Just turned on @BBCParliament
Do I detect another embarrassing #brexit climb down by @theresa_may ? Withdrawal Agreement debate suspended, tomorrow’s vote postponed, tail between legs back to Brussels? I bet they can see her coming for a mile in Brussels

The Secretary of State @liamfox just boasted that exports as a percentage of GDP went up from 27% to 30%. Sounds good? Not if you compare it to the Dutch percentage a country in EU where that same percentage is more like 85%. The man lies about #Brexit all the time. It's his game If you take “Net exports” you find EU in second position globally, Dutch in fifth position while U.K. languishes in position 193😂 #Brexit reality 🤗

You should be crying and holding your head in shame instead of giving us this #Brexit waffle Instead the Maybot trots our her pre-programmed meaniningless replies

I know both sides have their ‘Red Lines’ in #Brexit negotiations,

but ‘no cherry picking’ is a lot clearer than

“I want my cake and I want it delivered ‘Just in Time’ by Unicorns with no hold-ups at the border and it should have zero tariff and we don’t expect to pay a thing” Barnier: The four freedoms are ‘indivisible’

But but but.... We’re the fifth largest economy and we buy all these cars!

German Car makers: The integrity of the Single Market is more important

But but but .....

UK trade deficit widens as fall in sterling after Brexit fails to improve export sales
theguardian.com/business/2017/… Ah.. the Guardian 😂committed Brexit idiots spout, so you give them something from ‘The Economist’ @TheEconomist 🤔

Thread (not for the fainthearted Brexiteers)
I'll let you in on a little secret my Brexiteer friends. Although my English is better than most Leave voters, (I know when to use their, they're and there), I am Dutch and studied Economics at the University of Rotterdam. Have an MBA. 2/ Exports represent about 83% of the Dutch Economy and this number, incredibly while in the EU, is still rising.

The comparable percentage for UK exports is 33% of GDP and going down these last few years. It peaked around 2013 in fact.

As a Dutchman having lived, worked and raised a family in UK,

the feeling that best describes my #brexit emotions is:

Come on UK, I love you and respect you, but also be aware,

there’s nothing special about you as a country that means you deserve ‘special treatment’ from EU. In the past the U.K. has had the fortune of having had clever diplomats that have secured some opt outs and special consideration. But make no mistake, when UK eventually joined the EU, we in the rest of Europe were mainly feeling sorry for you and yes we owed you a WWII favour