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Gosh, that’s interesting

Business leaders threaten to derail Brexit by demanding Britain stays in Single Market and Customs Union indefinitely

There is a separate business vote these days, is there? FTSE 100 CEOs get a special one?

Derail is thus the wrong word. Whinge about might be better.

18 thoughts on “Gosh, that’s interesting”

  1. There are various vested interests backing Remain who consider popular democracy a ghastly mistake, As most of the leading lights have spent their careers ignoring the unwashed masses, they are incapable of accepting a democratic decision. Its noticeable that the entrepreneurs, like Dyson, are licking their lips at the prospect of selling directly into the world markets, whereas order-takers such as Marcus Rose and rent-seekers like Richard Branson are aghast at the very thought. The EU manages to combine the worst features of the Napoleonic Continental system and the Hanseatic League into a hideous parody of a trade policy. Far better off out.

  2. And still confusing the two things:

    You have to be in the EU to be in the EU Customs Union (because it’s a customs union of EU member states).

    You don’t have to be in the EU to be in the EEA single market.

    If the great and the good could only manage to understand the difference we might avoid some of the pain (see eureferendum.com for details).

  3. What Gareth said.

    If there was any sign they (or the churnalists reporting their pearls of wisdom) knew what they were talking about, we might take the trouble to listen to their concerns.

  4. I expect these “business leaders” are more concerned they’ll no longer be invited to EU-funded “business leadership” junkets in nice cities on the continent than anything related to shareholder value.

  5. Bloke in Cornwall

    Tell them to move their business to a different EU country if they are that desperate to stay in the EU! Let the rest of us get on with talking to the rest of the world…

  6. On the whole, I’m inclined to consider democracy a ghastly mistake, and increasingly favour a property qualification for voting.

    Still, not objecting to the Brexit vote.

  7. Well, considering that a fair few CBI members, notably the BBC, are in receipt of grants from Brussels, and that single market rules are designed to favour big business, it’s not a surprise.

  8. Ed Lud says “on the whole, I’m inclined to consider democracy a ghastly mistake”, which of course, when there is universal suffrage, it is. There are always more have-nots than haves, so any politician (see, e.g. J. Corbyn) who promises free stuff is going to be popular.

    I would restrict voting not just to those with property, and would exclude all of the following as well:

    1. Anyone under 25
    2. Women
    3. Anyone with a tattoo
    4. Anyone called Gary or Clint
    5. Anyone with an IQ below 100 (includes categories 3 and 4, of course)
    6. Anyone who has ever voted Labour (includes category 5)

    Frankly we were better off under absolute monarchy. The average serf had to contribute no more than 35% of his labour to the manor and in return got free housing. Mind you, he died by the age of 30 and had raging toothache from the age of 14 onwards, so there is that.

  9. In the Times today, by Edward Lucas:

    ‘most foreigners found David Cameron’s decision to hold the Brexit referendum bewildering…Boris Johnson’s clownish manners and cake metaphors leave foreigners seething.’

    It’s all about the foreigners, see?

  10. Our political estsblishment is slavishly subservient to foreign opinion to a degree which would baffle any foreigner. A similar attitude in France would be almost inconceivable.

    It’s a class-wide massive inferiority complex, almost pathological in some.

  11. The Meissen Bison

    Thos. Fuller / Interested

    I’m not certain that raging toothache was a feature of life in feudal Britain for serfs or their lords.

    Tooth decay and a body shape like Jemma Beale’s were probably the result of later advances in civilisation.

  12. @ Theophrastus

    From the Wikipedia piece you quote: “Besides the EUCU, the EU, through separate agreements, is in customs unions with Andorra, San Marino, and Turkey…”

    So that would be a different customs agreement then, not the EU Customs union. One that we would have to negotiate (and get approved by the 27). Not one that we could “stay in”, indefinitely or otherwise.

    FFS – what are you, a politician or a MSM journalist?

    Do have a look at eureferendum.com – the subject has already been covered at some length there 🙂

  13. @ Theophrastus

    Actually, my apologies for accusing you of being a politician or a MSM journalist.

    You did actually try to check the facts. A politician or a MSM journalist would not get that far 😉

  14. @ Rob
    It is *not* class, it is media-influenced. The twits who think that the BBC and newspapers rule the country (despite the, by far, leading newspaper in the UK failing to prevent us joing the EEC and 90% of the media supporting “Remain”).

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