Good debating training. Oh dear. Training.

COYP

To whom is the reason for the change in terms.

COYP

OK but here are the economies that grew fastest last year.

[Link]

Some of them are very small and show little potential for replacing the trade we could lose from the EU. The interesting markets are the ones with high growth and high volume. India & China.

But again based on my experience of doing business, when you're negotiating with an entity that is larger than you, then you're at a considerable commercial disadvantage regarding the terms of business.

China's economy is almost 5 times larger than ours and India's is the same size but growing much faster.

One of the advantages of being in a trade block is that it gives you an advantage when negotiating with large nations that would otherwise dictate terms. It allows you to dictate terms instead.

Our ability to "take back control" would appear to be rather limited when you consider May's capitulation and Cameron's failure to get anything worthwhile from the EU.

When people said that the Germans need us to buy their BMWs they often said that the UK is the 2nd largest market within the EU, which is true. But they fail to grasp that the UK only buys 3% of the world's cars.

If that 3% falls to 2% because of brexit the German car makers will be more than compensated for by higher sales in those same high growth markets you identify as being of potential for a UK free trade deal.

Hence the reason the EU can dictate terms.

Yes we're the world's 5th largest economy (for now) but the UK only generates 3.3% of global GDP. By any measure that's a small number. The USA by comparison is almost 25%.

I used to sell advertising for Ulster TV donkeys years ago. UTV had a monopoly in 2.3% of the UK's households and when we sat with advertisers to negotiate we got screwed because they had to give a bigger share of their money to LWT & Thames who had 20% of the UK's households.

I have very little faith in our ability to get good free trade deals with any of the economies that represent significant potential. The USA? China? India? Forget it.

Only my opinion but I'd prefer to be in a bigger trade block. Just like ITV which consolidated from 13 different regional companies to a single company.

Capitalism favours big business, which is why success is always predicated on growth.

I voted to free us from the shackled of the EU Superstate. I guess the notion of this country's destiny being in our own hands doesn't appeal to you. The EU is going backwards, not forwards. I believe in Britain.

What trading arrangements are you talking about, as I understood from Fallon yesterday that there are no new trade arrangements at all and WTO countries are quite hostile to changes.

That is his main reason for opposing this 'deal'.

I never understood all this anyway as we already have a good trading relationship with the USA and others. Being in the single market does not effect them, my shop each week has plenty of non-EU items.

Best to remain and simply carry on - Fox is never going to do anything except involve us in prolonged negotiations for several years he has already got away with 2 years living in fancy hotels at our expense.

The USA ambassador said the other day that not to have a trade deal was the best way to trade, he is probably thinking of international court case log jams which of course are the American way, along with all the other difficulties of 2 incompatible countries standards.

Does Canada in fact, trade much with the EU, after 7 years negotiations?

We get the best of both worlds at the moment.

The treasury is hoping that we will muddle through somehow but that's no way to run things, at least it wasn't until brexit fantasies came along.

Very telling that left leaning Paul Mason was in favour of leave, although not under a Tory government, even though you get to vote the Tories out regularly and Corbyn is really a remainer. Somebody so intelligent yet so childish.

COYP