Seriously, so much poison in the press about the Customs Union. I see a QC in twitter pointing out the trade arrangements between the EU and a variety of countries Boris et al are arguing that we wish to make our own arrangements with as if this justifies running a constant deficit. Does nobody understand this at all?
It is not a huge surprise that Labour wants to misunderstand it and argue for a Customs Union, because Labour exists on the principle that you are at the mercy of an employer. Without letting the cat out of the bag, I would render this argument pointless in seconds if I were in a position to be making decisions on social engineering grounds, but I am not in such a position and am unlikely to be daft enough to put myself there,
Just to put this out there – remaining in the Customs Union means remaining within a lot of associated EU rules that people voted to leave to get away from. It is not the rules on products that I refer to here, it is the rules on movement. It is also the difference between continuing with running a trade deficit versus running a trade surplus, which is what we really want to be doing if we want to end Austerity.
There is no other way of working our way out of debt. If you run a trade deficit, you are in continual debt, which puts your country in danger. Making the EU our trading partner means running a deficit. We have more and better goods in the shops, but we will never be in a position to say we have enough money to do anything positive, because we will always be a debtor nation, albeit a successful one.
Coming out of the Customs Union, on the other hand, means we can set our own tariffs, expand production into other commonwealth countries which have favourable conditions for producing things that we cannot, for example due to weather.
As I have previously mentioned, a low pound is a good thing if you wish to foster more industrial investment and production, which is a good thing for the people at the bottom of the economic ladder as it is less reliant on your ability to impress a random dumb bunny at an employment agency. It encourages foreign investment and makes your goods cheaper. That is how to create a trade surplus. A trade surplus is a good thing. Many people don’t remember us running a trade surplus because it was so long ago!
A low currency is such a good thing that China kept theirs artificially low and were chastised for it as being anti-competitive, so powerful is its effect on job creation and running a surplus, making your country considerably more successful and fair if you are one of the people who are able to earn.
It is all very well for someone with an income as secure as a QC to want to remain in such an arrangement, as their reduced ability to buy Volkswagens and Brie might be inconvenient for them. The deficit has not touched them, and it is unlikely to in the future.
In the event that you actually want to help the poor in this country and others, however, it is quite clear that exiting the customs union is not only desirable, but essential.
To conclude, we see here another example of media manipulation on the thoughtless masses. Do not believe everything you read, or the offhand presentation of the main players. Coming out of the customs union is the grubby but worthwhile choice in terms of actually making the country and economy work better. If you want to see the back of Austerity policies, leaving is the only way to go.
Amusingly, we again see the benefit of having two politically opposed parents here. We can see this, because we grew up with people happily arguing about it. If you cannot, you do not even understand politics, never mind the arguments within it.