I found David Davis' article in The Times of Malta (HERE). It was dated 7th March and talks about a race to the top in standards. We could have increased our own standards at any time, the EU only sets minimum ones in most cases but leave that for a moment. In the article he says:
"Both the UK and Malta have services at the heart of our economies – so a bespoke free trade deal that includes zero tariffs on services is in our mutual interest. Total bilateral trade between Malta and the UK in 2016 was valued at more than €2 billion".
The idiot Davis doesn't seem to realise there are no tariffs on services in trade deals anyway so our service exports to non EU countries will not be boosted by Brexit, it will be exactly as it was before. There is not the slightest advantage to the UK for the services that make up 80% of our economy.
But have a look at this (HERE) . It's a summary of the Single Market for Services as codified by The Service Directive 2006. This is what we are giving up as far as the EU and Malta are concerned.
"The application of the core principles have been developed through the case law of the European Court of Justice. This case law was codified into EU law with the adoption of the Services Directive in 2006. The Directive covers services activities accounting for 46% of EU GDP, including in sectors like retail, tourism, construction and business services. It is not limited to services provided between EU countries however and also covers services provided within countries.
Full implementation of the Services Directive should:
remove red tape and simplify the establishment of service providers in their home country and abroad; simplify the cross-border provision of services into other EU countries; strengthen the rights of service recipients, in particular consumers; ensure easier access to a wider range of services.
In addition to the Directive, a number of sector specific laws provide the rules for financial services, transport, telecommunications, postal services, broadcasting and patient rights.
The bespoke free trade deal that Davis keeps talking about will almost certainly not replicate what we've got at the moment as he himself admits later on in the same article. "The Prime Minister made clear that we are leaving the single market, and that life is going to be different. In certain ways, our access to each other’s markets will be less than it is now".
One wonders what goes through his head. He begins by talking about "the special bond between] Malta and Britain [that] has grown deeper and stronger over the course of our remarkable, shared history", and ends up telling Maltese readers he is going to reduce trade between us. He is going to make the bonds shallower and weaker. No doubt they were all pleased to read that.
