UK’s Exports To The Rest Of The World Are Far Outpacing Those To The EU.
In 2019 the UK’s goods exports to the non-EU world soared by 14.1%
By sad contrast, the UK’s goods exports to the EU27 fell by 1.2%
In the last 10 years, the EU has profited more and more from its “Treasure Island”
10 years of a success story for the UK, with the non-EU trade balance improving by 33%
10 years of a sad story for our EU membership, with the UK’s trade deficit with the EU more than doubling
Last year the EU27 ‘made a profit’ of over £95bn on its goods trade with the UK (exports minus imports)
How do goods exports affect our economy?
The facts are that goods exports are a small part, because of the UK’s strong services sector which dominates by a factor of almost 4:1.
Nevertheless, our goods exports to the rest of the world are becoming increasingly significant.
Trade deals
In 60 years the EU has never managed to negotiate a trade deal with the largest economy on the planet the United States. It has no trade deal with the second-largest economy: China.
In that same 60 years the EU has only just managed to do a deal (still not ratified) with the world’s third-largest economy: Japan. The United Kingdom Government managed this is in just eight months since leaving the EU (in name only) on 01 February 2020.
Trade deals are not required to do trade, but they can help. The vast majority of the world’s economies and businesses trade with the EU without a trade deal. No Single Market, no Freedom of Movement, no massive annual payments, no Level Playing Field, no Northern Ireland Protocol, nothing. Just normal WTO rules.
The myth of the EU’s Single Market and Customs Union
At present, UK companies can sell their goods to EU27 countries with no tariffs. The EU’s Customs Union is supposedly a tariff-free zone for EU members. The Single Market supposedly imposes common standards. These are facts that were lauded by all those who campaigned for Remain in the EU Referendum of 2016 and ever since.
A simple question must therefore be asked. If the EU’s Single Market and Customs Union are so essential to be a part of, why have the UK’s sales outside the EU increased by 14.1%, when the UK’s sales to the EU have fallen by 1.2%?
These are facts you will not see on the BBC, Sky News, or ITN
The above facts come from my analysis of the official figures from the Office for National Statistics. They are freely available to all news organisations, and yet they are not reported.
Sky and ITN are commercial organisations, although they are still supposedly regulated by Ofcom. The BBC on the other hand is publicly funded by licence payers and by the Government. Their endemic bias is so palpable in their news and current affairs output that the case for defunding that part of the organisation at the very least is clear. If they cannot adhere to their Charter, they are not fit for purpose.
An independent United Kingdom freed from the EU can do even better
Whenever I publish the research I have conducted, presenting facts which reflect badly on the EU, I like all Leavers suffer attacks from those who have never accepted the democratic decision of the British people in 2016 to leave the European Union.
One line of attack from Remoaner-Rejoiners is “Well, this just shows how we can stay in the EU and still sell around the World.” People like this completely miss the point.
Have any of the Remoaner-Rejoiners traded internationally?
I suggest that Remoaner-Rejoiners should try selling into France and see how they get on. I know people with this direct experience that would rather sell to a company in Phoenix Arizona — even with tariffs — than to a company in Marseilles in the South of France.
A sense of pride and confidence may be returning
I believe that what is now changing is a feeling amongst business people that the United Kingdom will soon, once again, be a free and independent trading nation, unshackled by EU regulation.
Since 01 January 1973 when the UK joined what was then the Common Market, the British people have been subdued, thinking that the UK was just one small player in a massive EU trade bloc. This was always wholly untrue.
The fact is that thanks to the Customs Union the UK became a captive market for the other EU countries. This is why German businesses refer to us as “Treasure Island”. The UK is the country that benefited the least from the Single Market, as the EU Commission itself admits and which I have previously reported.
Now I sense a feeling of national pride returning and not before time, as more and more businesses feel ready to embrace the global market, unencumbered by EU rules and regulations, and ready to present excellent British products and services to all our friends around the world. I also see these international friends increasingly keen to buy British.
When we are finally and fully free of the EU’s totalitarian shackles,
I can’t wait to see the United Kingdom’s full and mighty potential unleashed.
And that scares the hell out of the EU along with Germany and France who together for years have stitched up the UK.
Sources: Office for National Statistics | EU Commission / Eurostat ]
