JCB diggers.
And the UK is still the world's sixth largest producer of manufactured goods.
Yep, we're also pretty good at music, military equipment and wiskey but those things alone won't sustain our economy.
And of all the things we manufacture for export, half of them go to the EU. Something that may not happen so easily or cheaply if we do not make up part of the free trade block - thus hindering the UK's ability to compete.
Switzerland seems to be doing alright. A European country that isn't in the EU.
Are you telling me that the EU would seriously impose such duties on UK goods if we were to leave? The UK could retaliate by only buying Chinese tat and Taiwanese stuff. The truth is the EU deal with almost every country in the world (even though the vast majority of these countries are not in the EU)
Swizterland is a massive tax haven and thus benefits from it's financial sector where other countries/individuals deposit funds into their country. Also Swizterland is part of the EFTA and thus has to contriubte to the EU budget and abide by many EU laws without any of the benefits of EU membership (a share of the eu grants, a say on EU laws, etc).
Yes the potential is that the EU could impose such duties as a retaliatory measure for the UK snubbing the EU. Don't you think the French would like nothing more than to do that?
Yes would could just by goods from China, Taiwan etc but that won't help our trading deficit as China, Taiwan etc certainly won't step in and buy all those UK exports that otherwise would have gone to the EU.
Uk manufacturing is a very small part of the UK economy. The uk economy does not rely on goods we export we are a net importer.
No, manufacturing is still a large part of the economy. Yes we are a net importer, and that is a massive problem because unless you are net neutral over time the wealth of the nation is eroded.
In reality the EU NEED us as a consumer now more than ever. They would NOT bite the hand that is feeding them right now.
I don't disagree that the EU needs us as consumers. They also need us to give a balanced political view across Europe.
However, and the point that most people here don't seem to comprehend is that the UK does not have any essential or unique export items which means that EU can choose to switch their suppliers from the UK to anywhere else in the world to continue supplies and screw-over the UK.
Meanwhile, the UK will still need to buy cars, trains, planes, powertools, powerstations, food, etc etc which are all now supplied by EU member states as we don't have the ability to make these things in the UK anymore.
If We left the EU and lets for arguments say .. If the EU decided to add duty to UK goods making them uncompetetive. We would similarly add duty to EU goods. This would make EU goods expensive to us. The result would then be that for example british consumers would start buying home made cheese instead of imported cheese.
There are many domestic industries and businesses that would benefit greatly from this effect.
If instead of importing things from abroad we made them for our own consumer market that would be of huge benefit to our balance of payments. Manufacturing is the highest wealth creating business and we have run it down instead passing all the profits to foreigners.
A resurgence of British Manufacturing would be the absolute healthiest thing that could happen to our economy.
That's a lovely concept but you're living in la la land if you think its going to happen.
Are you suddenly going to re-invent the UK car manufacturing industry overnight? No. It would take huge investments in factories, machainery, training, support services - all at a time when the country is broke! It will never happen.
That means we could slap any duties we like on cars from the EU, but you and I as consumers still need a vehicle, so we as consumers end up still buying that VW Golf at a much higher cost as we now have an import duty added to the price.
The exact same thing could be said about the majority of 'heavy' industry where real money is made. Of course there will be some areas that would benefit from a boost in UK demand, such as food, but that won't sustain the economy.
