As we know, there is a huge row going off inside government about whether or not we should remain close to the EU in terms of regulatory alignment or not. To me this is a no brainer. The logic being this: you need regulations, they are unavoidable if government is to take any responsibility at all for product safety, consumer and employment rights and the environment.
The question is do you have your own or work with others to produce common standards and regulations? The difficulty for Brexit is that the world decided long ago it was better to have common standards as far as possible. The next question is who develops these common standards?
The big countries or blocs tend to produce their own. So, when you come to sell your product or produce to them you are expected to comply with the standard that apply in their countries. Fair enough, a Brexiteer might say. But then, when you want to buy their products or produce and demand they meet your standards their manufacturers don't want to bother because it's small scale, hassle and more expensive. So, you end up accepting their standards anyway. They are the 900 lb gorilla in the room.
Europe is an advanced economy, perhaps it's the most advanced economy. And therefore they have the money, the time and the determination as well as the expert manufacturers to help produce the best regulations and ones that advantage them. This is the natural order of things.
Bur now we are talking about pulling ourselves out. But let's consider what the Vote Leave website told everyone before the referendum:
"Some claim we will not get a trade deal but there is a European free trade zone from Iceland to the Russian border and we will be part of it. The idea that Britain will be the only country in Europe not to be part of this zone is silly. The IN campaign claims that ‘three million jobs will be lost if we vote leave’. The economist who did the research on which they base this claim describes their claim as ‘pure Goebbels’".
Now the idea doesn't look so "silly" does it? We are literally going to be the "only country in Europe not to be part of [the European Free Trade] zone".
Vote Leave took their website down straight after the referendum in an effort to remove all the lies but someone had the foresight to archive it. You can see it HERE.
