But that’s because of high EU import tariffs and red tape. This also applies to African businesses wanting to export to the EU, but are effectively blocked from the market because of this.
I think it’s fair to say that Brexit played at least a part in Matt Preston’s decision to close his eurorack retail business (Matttech Modular) last year. He spoke with Matt Hodson about some of the challenges on this live stream.
I’m no expert but bigger retailers are inevitably better equipped to deal with the increased paperwork and red tape involved in getting goods in and out of the UK. For example, I can order products from Thomann or DV247 Music Store, safe in the knowledge that VAT is charged at the point of sale and I won’t get stung by customs fees upon arrival here in the UK. Elevator Sound was able to set up an EU branch to better cater for its customers outside the UK but for many small businesses, this simply isn’t feasible.
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It’s obvious why. But it’s a negative side effect of stepping out of the EU.
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For sure and I feel for the for the many small businesses in the UK effected. But it also demonstrates the protectionist, corporate nature of the EU.
Not really. It just shows you that the Tories cannot have a cake and it eat it too. It’s just completely logical that when you step out of it that there will be downsides / consequences. This is not the fault of EU. I mean , as if the UK gov’s intention were all out of a place for doing good. You know that that is not true right? Look at who benefitted the most from the Brexit.
It really sucks though, on that we certainly agree.
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Genuine question: are EU red tape and import tariffs disproportionate compared to the UK equivalents? I naively assumed they’d be roughly the same.
The Tories always have their cake and eat it. It’s the rest of us that live with the consequences of their actions.
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It’s clear that the vast majority of tory MPs and UK civil service didn’t want Brexit, because they are the servants of the corporati and bankers.
But it looks like Brexit is about to bring advantages to a number of African countries: This is from Nigerian news site The Nation*
"The Developing Countries Trading Scheme benefits 65 countries, 37 of which are African, and will mean that Nigeria benefits from duty free trade on over 9200 products.
This is significantly more generous than the EU’s GSP scheme and the US’ AGOA scheme and, based on trade volumes, would mean that 99 per cent of goods exported to the UK are duty free."
As I understood it there was a split among Tory members, David Cameron who brought the referendum vote thought that there was no way UK would leave, allegedly.
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The way the referendum was held also was a complete joke of course. There should have been a minimum turn out % for it to go through. As with most significant referendums. Plus a lot of people had no idea what they were voting for nor the major downsides of it all.
I remember the most searched for sentences with Google after the referendum.
If this was all well communicated including possible consequences etc. In an honest way plus a minimum turn out, and then people voted for leave, it would have been a bit of a different story
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It was over 70% of the population that voted
I do agree though the whole thing was a shambles and people were not informed properly about the implications.
The leaflets from both remain and leave were equally terrible.
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Thats not true. 72.2% was the turnout.
It’s just that some people likely did not take the opportunity to fully inform themselves as per most people on any given subjects (I include myself in that - in terms of my knowledge on the world back then).
Many still do not have real aptitude to look at things on a deeper level.
A lot has been learned in regard to how the EU function (as well as UK Gov).
I did not vote - that was a vote in itself.
I was 50/50 and had the ability to live in other countries irrespective, I felt at the time that I did not want to take that away from others.
My recollection is that there was plenty of information about likely outcomes of leaving the EU, it’s just that reality as presented by experts wasn’t as palatable as the fantasy peddled by non-experts.
Articles like this probably didn’t help.
This is still fascinating, and depressing. Also really sad how Northern Ireland and Scotland both voted to remain… especially the former, given the fragility there, and how shit that NI people have been hung out to dry by both sides.
Yeah true. I should have said that there should have been a minimum amount one way or the other for it to go through. 52 % for leave and then let it go through is quite insane.
At the very least there should have been a new referendum in place if less than 60% voted one way or the other or something.
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I think that generally poorer areas were more likely to vote leave and middle class areas more likely to vote remain.
You can’t really blame the people for that, though, they don’t get much of a chance to understand complexity: when you’re working your ass off just to somehow keep your head above water, education and even more so participation in democratic processes is a luxury you simply can’t afford, nor can you do much for your kids in places where public schools (Brits call those “state” schools) are shit, like in Germany or in the UK.
And without a developed skill of critical thinking, without researching skills, without practice in making up and changing one’s mind, it is hard distinguish between the lies that are told, the numerous misconceptions that are floating around, and the facts that stand up to scrutiny.
The result is a democracy in name only, a system where everyone has a vote, but decisions are still made in favour of a minority, and the rest are paying the price for that one way or another.
There were times when unions invested a lot in helping their member educate themselves, and fought hard with governments and employers for conditions where people actually had the time and energy for doing that. Because it was obvious to them that this is a good way for bringing about change. No wonder the Tories, and conservatives elsewhere, too, did what they could to prevent that.
Yes, I know… lower income people feeling disenfranchised looking to make a point. 
Something else that irks me about the EU… I’ve been an EU citizen my whole adult life (and, being from Liverpool, not someone who particularly identifies as British first…)… but, wouldn’t you have thought the EU could offer some form of EU citizenship to people in the UK who still wanted it?
I think it is more complicated than that, for sure some voted leave to “punish the establishment”, others likely believed that the shortage of jobs and housing in their localities was due to migrants, others probably believed the NHS leaflet etc.
Edit: To your second point yes, but there was undoubtedly IMHO a certain hostility from the EU politicians so concessions like that were unlikely.
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