@shadowen Said 
"Trump has already told Britain that a trade deal with the US will require Britain to drop EU food standards (standards as in what was mentioned above) from EU levels to ensure that America can make Britain a dumping ground for sub-standard food. Not only that, but to do so would make it impossible for Britain to trade in Europe because we would no longer produce food of the standard required for sale in EU countries."
Let's say for the sake of argument that the UK did drop EU food standards. Why would that mean UK companies wouldn't be able to trade in the EU? The food standards are not mandatory, they are a minimum acceptable level. There would be nothing to stop UK companies from producing food (or other goods) to (the higher) EU standards in order that they might trade with EU countries. Infact this sort of thing happens all the time around the world. Do you really think UK companies would be so stupid that they would think they had to produce goods at the 'new' min. level rather than at the level of their intended market (assuming this level matches or exceeds the 'new' min.)?
As for the NHS I would imagine it would be political suicide for a government to dismantle it.
Actually, the Conservatives have been trying to sell of the NHS for years, but as you rightly say, it would be political suicide to do this.... until now. Many tories see Brexit as the ultimate opportunity to do this.
Oh, they won't just float it on the stock market. That would be opposed. They'll do it by stealth. Allowing foreign investment to come in under the guise of "Saving taxpayers money" and justified by "An exciting trade deal with our oldest ally and best friend".
They will then argue that the foreign investment allows a reduction in state funding and in that way chip away at it budget by budget until state spending is terminated. Once medical services are de-nationalised and the healthcare of the nation becomes dependent on market forces which put profit above care.
As for food production.....
The EU would not accept produce from any country that does not meet EU standards. That's the whole point of having standards. That's why they're called "standards". Because they set a standard that has to be met.
Once the US floods British markets with cheap poor quality food, British producers will inevitably drop their standards too because that would be the only way they could remain economically viable. America is too big to compete with in any other way.
If you're suggesting we have a dual production process, one for trade with the EU and one for other places, then that too is not economically unviable. It would cost too much and therefore prices would be unattractive.
Not only that, if we crash out of the EU without a trade deal we will fall under WTO rules and it is highly likely that trade tariffs would also be applied to trade with the EU until a deal is agreed, which could take years.
To slap the costs of dual production on top of that.... well... I don't know what the numbers involved in that are. Your guess would be as good as anybody's else's.
There have been a number of projections produced by various organisations but they all come out with bad numbers that are instantly rejected out of hand by Brexiters as "Project Fear", the Go-To default for anything they don't like the sound of.
You need to understand that the British food market has become dependent on imports for many years. And we don't have the agricultural land to change that any more. Indeed, property developers are encroaching on the rural belt year on year and squeezing what agricultural land remains year on year.
The national housing stock is inadequate by several million properties at this time. What takes priority..? We can't have houses AND farms.
We don't have a vast outback to rear sheep or grow food on the fertile fringes of, or just build another town in the middle of nowhere. It's not a case of "OK, change your farming practices". We are a small, densely populated island that has been encroaching on agricultural land since the industrial revolution. There is only so much land and cities are getting bigger as farmland reduces.
It's an extremely complex issue here but try to think of it in terms of "small" and hey... when Scotland becomes independent we'll even lose the Scottish border region which is highly agricultural.
We need to be able to trade with the EU and believe me, they're going to insist on their standards being met. We can't argue with them. We've got nothing to bargain with.
There simply isn't the room on the entire site to explain all the complexities of the issue.... even if I understood them all, which nobody does.
Brexiters simply pooh-pooh anything that doesn't agree with the Brexit narrative. I think you were highly supportive of Brexit at the time of the referendum as I recall so you'll probably just parrot whatever Cole says, but there's a lot of that about, apparently.
Dec 03, 2018 @ 06:19:48
He should be behind bars.
