No cliff edge ahead.

When we leave the EU, the question is not trade deal or no trade deal.   

Only those who are either deliberately wanting to sink the only vote that mattered, the vote of the people of the UK that parliament itself set in train, or those who don’t understand how trade works, talk about that so called nightmare scenario.   

But that’s not the way it will be.  If we say our base line is WTO, if the EU cannot come up with a trade deal that is better than what we have under WTO, we go with WTO.   

We should now kick the ball back firmly in the court of the EU and say, we're going with WTO unless you can come up with a better deal.   

Simple.  

A final thought.  On the 29th of May 2019 we leave the EU.  That has already been voted on by parliament.  Unless there is a repeal Bill, and who would introduce that given parliament voted in favour of triggering Article 50, we’re out.

Keeping the poor, poor. It’s what the EU does so well.

You probably have never heard of Ahmed Shiaan.  He is the Maldives’ Ambassador to the UK.   Nice place he comes from you must be thinking.  And it is.  

But paradise comes with its own problems.  The EU causes him and his country problems.  The EU deliberately keeps the people in his country poor.    

EU protectionism has hampered their largest export, tuna, through a 24% tariff – unless, and here is the rub, it is to be processed in the EU.    

He explains how this has harmed economic development in the Maldives and expresses his hope for a Free Trade Agreement with the UK.  Oh yes, the EU generously offers the Maldives a 0% tariff on fresh tuna, provided it  destined for processing in the EU.  The “added value” is made up in the processing.  So by not allowing the import into the EU of tuna unless it is to be processed in the EU means the people of Maldives remain poor.  So the people of Maldives can’t ever get the opportunity to actually make money on the most profitable part of the tuna industry, the processing.   

I wrote about this before in relation to coffee.    

The EU is a protectionist club that destroys opportunity in some of the poorest nations in the world so that its people can make a fortune.    It is morally outrageous.  Yet that is exactly what he EU is doing in your name. 

The EU artificially creates the conditions to capture more of the value chain.  At the same time, it stymies the development of canning facilities in the Maldives by encouraging raw export.  The long-term consequences of this is a lack of development. 

The sooner we are out of this rotten club the better.

Mind your language.

The government doesn’t command an overall majority. There is a small minority party.   

When it comes to votes they “are supporting” the government.    Or perhaps they are “propping up the government”.  What’s the difference?   

Well, on the BBC today the former description as used to describe the relationship between the SNP and the Greens.  The second description was for the Conservative and the DUP.  

It smacks of bias.  Language matters.

"We want the United States of Europe".

It’s a while since the Referendum on whether we wanted to remain or leave the European Union.  It’s a while since we heard much from Martin Schulz.  Remember him?   President of the European Parliament 2012 to 2017.   

Now he is back in Germany serving as Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany since March 2017 and a Member of the Bundestag since September 2017.   He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany from 1994 to 2017.  So, putting it mildly, he knows all about the EU and where it;s going.   

Well, today he spoke again.   

And if what he said doesn’t make everyone in the UK sit up and take notice, they must be mad.    

He told the SDP party conference that a new EU treaty should be presented to member states creating a United States of Europe and countries who oppose it must leave the EU.  He demanded “there to be a constitutional treaty to create a federal Europe… the treaty will be presented to the member states and those who are against should just leave the European Union… We want the United States of Europe”.     

And he doesn’t want to hang about.  His plan is for this to come into existence by 2025.  And, remarkably, some Remainers think they have a hope of changing the public’s mind about Brexit.   

Somehow I don’t think we will be seeing his thoughts on the News at Ten tonight.  It's the last thing Remainers would want the people in the UK to hear.

German cars. German profits.

Germany dominates car production across Europe and makes eight of the top selling cars in the UK.  

So says an investigation by car magazine AutoExpress.    

Which, putting it in incredibly simple terms, means Germanys car industry needs the UK.  It makes a fortune here.  They want to sell to us.  We want to buy.   

But if the EU plays its hand the way they are, when we leave the EU, German built cars will be much less of an attractive proposition to UK buyers.  

So, I may be wrong, but I don’t think the board rooms of BMW, VAG and Mercedes will like the idea of the EU and their chancellor punishing the UK.  It will punsh them too and with it take away a rather delicious slice of their profits.  And jobs.