Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

You imply the tarrif (if any) would be a one way street.

No. But it would be our choice the other way. We might be able to have a free trade agreement with the EU.

Exporting is the problem, importing is easy!

Haystack,

Given that the UK imports more from Germany than it exports to them, I suspect it may well be the EU who are knocking on the UK's door to enter a free trade agreement rather than the other way around, in the event that were to leave the EU.

I'm glad I voted for UKIP in the MEP elections. It has helped to kick off the "earthquake of change".

I do like this Comment from today's Telegraph and agree with what it says in the bit I've bolded below and I would dearly like Cameron to prove he means what he says and set out his agenda for change now:




Britain’s relationship with Europe needs to change. That fact has long been obvious to most people, but the European elections have rammed home its importance. It is not just that Ukip performed so well. It is that the Liberal Democrats did so badly. Faced with a collapse in support since entering the Coalition, Nick Clegg and his team abandoned their traditional local-first campaign strategy and presented themselves as unabashed Europhiles, the defenders and saviours of Britain’s place in the European Union. For their trouble, they were spectacularly thumped.

The Conservative argument, in the wake of their first third-place finish in more than a century, is that they understand this completely: they are, after all, the only party that is both offering a referendum on Europe, and has a chance of bringing it about. That is true – but it is no longer sufficient. Voters need proof not just that David Cameron will offer them a choice, but that he is actively striving to pave the way for it.

What does this mean? Perhaps the greatest problem facing the Tories in winning back voters who have defected to Ukip is an absence of trust. When the Prime Minister says: “Have faith that I will negotiate in Britain’s interests”, many will be sceptical, or even scornful. In particular, the longer he refuses to set out his shopping list, or at least his broad aims, the more the suspicion will grow that what he has in mind is not so much renegotiation as tinkering at the edges.

There is no need, as some have suggested, for Mr Cameron to bring forward his proposed referendum from 2017. It would be actively foolish to put Britain’s membership to a vote before there had been time to negotiate a better deal. But it would be equally misguided to wait until after the general election to begin grappling with the issue in earnest.

By setting the process of negotiation in train now, Mr Cameron will show voters that he is a man who delivers on his promises. There are other advantages. Europe is reeling from elections that showed the established order under threat from all sides. The eurozone crisis, and the subsequent economic stagnation, have shaken many people’s faith in the project. As Boris Johnson wrote yesterday, even Nicolas Sarkozy now sees the virtue in devolving power to nation-states, and restricting the movement of economic migrants. No longer can Mr Cameron, or Britain, be dismissed as isolated and misguided: our calls for change have instead proved prophetic.

In domestic terms, the move would also be to the Tories’ advantage. Ukip can hardly oppose it, given that it pushes Britain towards a referendum. The Lib Dems have lost the moral authority to object, after this weekend’s humiliation. And if Labour refuse to back the Prime Minister, they will be handing him a priceless electoral gift. It will also help the Tories hone their own message on Europe, which at the moment seems to echo Richard Nixon’s on Vietnam. He promised to end the war, but told voters he could not reveal the details of his strategy for fear of tipping his hand. They trusted him then; but Britons will be less willing to endorse Mr Cameron’s blueprint for Brussels without insight as to its detail.

The idea would also address another weakness in the Tories’ European strategy. Voters know they want change – but they are unable to see how politicians can deliver it. Mr Cameron has spoken of curbing benefit tourism, and removing the treaty requirement for “ever closer union”. Both would be welcome – but it is hard to see them resonating in the same way as, for example, limiting immigration from the EU’s poorer members (which is currently impossible). Starting the process now buys Mr Cameron time to make the case in Brussels for more dramatic changes – and to make the link in Britain between EU reform and pound-in-your-pocket politics, such as the money on food bills saved by fixing farming policy, or the lower costs to business brought about by slashing red tape.

Mr Cameron and his fellow European leaders must now begin to chew over the election results, and begin the process of choosing the European Commission’s new bosses. He should make clear that the message sent by voters across the Continent needs to be heard – and acted on. There has never been a better time to shake up Brussels, or a longer list of reasons to try.

I want out of the EU , the deals I want is a free trade agreement and other deals like the control of labour between us and ageement's in tackerling international crime , things like that.

Hilary
Yea, I agree. I was just spelling out the options. I don't see any srious problems doing business with the EU. There may be a few small problems in particular sectors, such as farming due to not being in the CAP. The EU does also tend to create tarrifs and quotas if the country in question has government subsidies. Overall I think trade would be similar. It would also give us the possibility of trade agreements with the wider Commonwealth. Although we would be outside the EU they may still require us to obey many EU rules to trade with them.

.

To say you didnt vote on the EU vote Hays you seem to have a lot to say about it.

2 faced or what.

And MANUEL your post to Fred this morning should equally be aimed at Hays.

So no special treatment please for you close pals.

O/T whenever we come back from a bank holiday it always seems stockwatch is knackered.

What on earth do MAM do to it. !!!!!!!!!

Site as slow as a slug aswel.

i shall just wait and listen to the argument and counter, try to work out what has a reasonable % of truth and then make up my mind ..... i don't have a fixed idea of what key elements i am looking for

if labour are in power, there won't be a choice ..... you'll be "in" whether you like it or not and further, there's a good chance that labour will slowly allow more and more of our laws and lives to be governed by brussels

fully agree sticky ...... naughty manuel :-))

Politics gets everywhere. I was visiting hospital today and there was a Labour ward! I certainly didn't find a UKIP ward.

UKIP ward would have been signed as Recovery Room

More like the Mortuary!

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Has anybody using Chrome as their Browser had troubles earlier to-day?

i use chrome and din't have any probs

my ukip + recovery room was obviously a bit too subtle :-)

Nick Clegg must be in intensive care. The prospect of Cable taking over from Clegg is an even worse proposition.

Yep Fred re- chrome.

Been funny all day here.

Sometimes its saying I cant log onto internet but am able to do just a minute later.

All very strange, cleared all my short term browsing data etc etc

Personaly I need a break from the politics, seems to have been far too much over last few days.

GF.

That is a relief.

The trouble with wander abroad and using Internet on mobile modem is one does gather some crap.

Got so fed up this am. I was forced to clean out the computer and reload chrome etc.

Seems OK now, but was worrying a little when my virus blocker didn't want to load.

Seems OK now.

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Break from politics!

For god's sake don't start talking about cricket, gardening or being nice about Hay's ancestry!