When barriers are good for you
On Christmas Eve the PM announced that there would be no non tariff barriers between the UK and the EU as a result of the FTA. The complete opposite of the truth; as the Government’s own adverts make clear, there will be considerable form filing, admin checks and tests. But now apparently this is a good thing, this morning Michael Gove told listeners to the Today Programme that this would make British exporters “match fit” and therefore better able to trade with the rest of the world.
The logic to this, if you can call it logic, is that currently half our exports have no red tape and therefore exporters who only sell in the EEA don’t have the necessary experience or expertise to export elsewhere. Now they will all have to fill out reams of forms and so exporting outside the EU will be easier.
As an economic justification for Brexit this is pathetic nonsense. Many firms export around the world already and things are worse for them and of course for anyone who just exports to the EEA. While the idea that forcing form filling on firms will make them fitter is for the birds. Try to remember these are the children of Thatcherism, it is difficult at times.
https://jonty.substack.com/