That sounds like a load of balony to me. I think that refers to what the roaming charges could be when on the continent.
GOVERNMENT SPIN The Australian way. Judy Rudd, an amateur genealogy researcher in south east Queensland , was doing some personal work on her own family tree. She discovered that ex-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's great-great uncle, Remus Rudd, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Melbourne in 1889. Both Judy and Kevin Rudd share this common ancestor. The only known photograph of Remus shows him standing on the gallows at the Melbourne Jail. On the back of the picture Judy obtained during her research is this inscription: 'Remus Rudd horse thief, sent to Melbourne Jail 1885, escaped 1887, robbed the Melbourne-Geelong train six times. Caught by Victoria Police Force, convicted and hanged in 1889.' So Judy recently e-mailed ex-Prime Minister Rudd for information about their great-great uncle, Remus Rudd. Believe it or not, Kevin Rudd's staff sent back the following for her genealogy research: "Remus Rudd was famous in Victoria during the mid to late 1800s. His business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and intimate dealings with the Melbourne-Geelong Railroad... Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to government service, finally taking leave to resume his dealings with the railroad. In 1887, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the Victoria Police Force. In 1889, Remus passed away during an important civic function held in his honour when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed." That's real political spin.
I think we're getting a little confused here. The document says "...less than 8% of EU exports come to the UK while 44% of UK exports go to the EU." If we believe what they say (and we shall, just for this example ) we need to take into account what they say on a previous page. "The EU's Single Market has ......... an economy over five times bigger than the UK's." Therefore we export to the EU 44% of our exports and they export to the UK over five times the 'less than' 8% (using comparative figures). So the amount we export to them is somewhat similar to that which we import from them. They need our trade as much as we need their trade. One all! Using the example of how many countries are in the EU bears no significance to the import/export market. Some of those 27 countries have virtually no trade with us at all. That's why they are stating the comparative sizes of the EU's and UK's economies. In actual fact, the size of the economies also doesn't bear much relevance to the export markets of either - but I'm only commenting on the 'facts' they are giving us. It's all spin!
Regardless of current import/exports, I wonder if anyone has guessed what will happen when the second biggest net contributer to the EU stops paying its subscription fee.
I had a quick look. The first thing that jumped out at me was a the chart label, 'uk jobs associated with eu trade'. The obvious and probably intended implication is that leaving the eu would result in those jobs being lost, but companies don't become successful enough to pay people to do a job without having business savvy directors. Those directors are unlikely to just throw their arms in the air and walk away if we leave the eu, so such stats are meaningless.
Whoa, there is no implication. It is a briefing paper (they are the work of the House Of Commons library staff) intended to present facts as they are archived and further reading by way of externally commissioned reports from both/all sides. What this briefing paper noted in the 'UK jobs associated with EU trade' was the following............... "It is important to note that this estimate is the number of jobs related to trade with other EU member states. This is not the same as saying that over three million jobs are dependent on the UK’s EU membership, since some trade with EU countries would take place even if the UK withdrew from the EU. In response to a Freedom of Information request, the Treasury made this point, telling Open Europe that the 3.3 million figure was “not an estimate of the impact of EU membership on employment”"
Just an aside I have emailed the AUS prime minister twice and had a reply each time within seven days Followed by a typed and signed letter within the month I have emailed #10.uk gov several times and had ZILCH
The same message is in there too. "some trade with EU countries would take place". The clear implication being that some trade would not. It's night on impossible to read thedocument off a phone screen, so I didn't read very much of it. Does it say anywhere if reduced legislative burden on small companies might enable them to grow if we leave the Eu? Or if it might be easier or harder to trade with non-eu countries if we leave?
Earlier in this thread you commented on the increase in stupid people (which I agree with). In the following comment you are hitting the nail on the head (please read on, I'm not calling you stupid!)................. This is a direct consequence of the widespread use of phones for internet reading. So even one of (what I regard as) the smarter forum members (no offence intended to anyone else) has glanced at a reference document that provides references to the full documents that quotes were taken from but has taken it as a propaganda piece. Some trade could be anywhere from 0.00001% to 100%. This is a gardening forum so I'll use the horticultural industry as an example; At the moment we can export plants, seed and produce freely within the EU as the industry works to European wide standards. If we leave it is still unknown if these standards will remain or new standards will be introduced that are considered acceptable enough for free trade to continue. Which brings me nicely to.................... What it says is the following.......... "Various attempts have been made to estimate the cost to the UK economy of EU regulation. For example, in March 2015, Open Europe estimated that the cost to the economy of the 100 most burdensome EU regulations was £33.3 billion a year. Open Europe claimed that the benefits of these regulations, estimated in Government Impact Assessments at £58.6 billion a year, have been vastly over-stated." It then quoted an excerpt from a CBI report as well. The thrust of the paper was to "warn" parliamentarians that it is impossible to reliably quote any facts on the matter as all reports have had to (or will need to) make assumptions with regard to affect. Which, blowing my own trumpet here, is exactly what I said many posts ago.
As a devout Nerd, I've read all that Paper. As @longk says, there is really no conclusion that can be drawn from the Paper. What it does allow is that the government, and opposition, can draw whatever conclusion they wish from it. Cameron uses the figures to give the impression that the 3 million jobs are dependent upon remaining in but he doesn't actually say it. Even the FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) figures are totally meaningless with this respect. I have a personal opinion that the FDI won't change much at all because we're still one of the best tax havens for foreign business investment. That's not trying to compare it to a tax haven for savings and investments. (The difference being the first is to invest in business and structure and the second being to invest money simply as a legal tax dodge.) Result: You're on your own with regard to guessing which way things will go if we vote out - or if we vote in!
As a total aside, this highlights another problem with the very group that us supposed to be leading us into the future. A recent stat said 70% of internet access from the UK was via smartphones. Google has even started measuring smartphone compatibility when ranking a website. Yet the government still publishes things using a 20+ year old format that can not adapt to the viewing medium. Like I said, total aside, back on topic
Yeah, I think that bloke from the International Monetary Fund was kind of getting round to that in what he said today, only caught some of it, but got the impression it would actually have 'some' effect on the rest of the world, even, if we were to leave the "sinking ship"..
