Here are a couple of stories that explain the problem of Brexit. On the one hand we have (HERE) leaders of Britain’s food industry — including the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), the Food and Drink Federation and the British Poultry Council — calling for “free and frictionless” trade with the EU. They say the government must also ensure there is an adequate supply of seasonal and permanent labour for the food industry. This is in an open letter published in The Sunday Times.
The group fear the country will crash out of the EU without a deal and say it's vital the UK goes on trading freely with the Continent.
Meanwhile at Policy Exchange, a think tank, (HERE), they have a report "Global Champion" extolling the virtues of leaving the EU and opening ourselves to what they call unilateral free trade - in other words - dropping all tariff and non-tariff barriers with the rest of the world. This might be a good idea if every other country did the same, which they won't.
Policy Exchange are calling for the exact opposite of what the leaders of the UK food industry want.
The NFU’s director of EU exit and international trade, Nick von Westenholz, said the food sector would face big additional costs under a no-deal Brexit because of tariffs and border checks. He said: “We have high welfare and environmental standards in this country. If we open up our markets, it will be bad for the consumer because there will be less high-quality, British-produced foods.”
At Policy Exchange, the Director of Economics Warwick Lightfoot, the report’s lead author, said: "When Britain leaves the EU, we have the opportunity to set ourselves free from its protectionist approach to the benefit of British consumers and our economy.”
When we can't even agree on the basics how are we ever to decide what is best?
