The opinions could not be more far apart. Martin Kettle writes “Economic struggles, the challenges of climate and migration” but there is no economic struggle (just the opposite, judging by the experts in this forum) and the migration is fully under control, thanks to the Rwanda scheme.
There seems to be no need then for a closer relationship with the EU.
If you take this article into account, then the EU sees potential in the current TCA:
“And it is why we are committed to making the most of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, to our mutual benefit.”
Later Mr. Šefčovič states that he expects a review of the TCA not before 2026.
I happened to catch Senate question time this arvo when the Minister for Trade and Tourism (Don Farrell) was answering a question about the status of the FTA being negotiated with the EU.
Apparently he was in Europe last week in talks with his EU counterpart when he told them that if the EU FTA doesn’t lead to new and increased markets for Australian agriculture in Europe then Australia will walk away from the negotiations and that Australia is happy for the negotiations not to be concluded this year.
I am sure I have mentioned previously that FTAs are all about our farmers.
G. Ustice has admitted that too in a way. Have you seen that interview on Australian TV where the three people laughed about the UK-AUS FTA and could not answer the question “which products do we actually import from them”? One person responded “Spice Girls CDs”, the second one “Black pudding”.
To me that does not leave the impression of a great deal for the UK. In one youtube video someone claimed that despite the FTA UK cannot export beef to AUS because of the BSE problem. I must admit that I did not find evidence for that claim. Have you heard of that?
I am absolutely sure that there is absolutely no chance that any UK meat products will be imported into Australia because of our strict bio security laws. Even chicken is a prohibited import and has been for a long time.
Australia exports 65% of its agricultural products.
On the bright side the UK will also have access to our Tim Tams
I think beef and wheat are in our top ten exports by value but not our top five ( I can say without looking it up that iron ore, coal and LNG are number one, two and three)
True, farmers products are not mentioned in the key benefits of the UK-AUS FTA. At least not on the gov pages. I thought that I had heard an interview with R. Sunak where he praised the FTA for the great opportunities for UK farmers. Maybe I got that wrong.
So it is (if anything) a minor drawback not to be able to export beef/chicken to AUS.
The other key benefits (services, no rule of origin for UK products, bidding on gov projects) sound promising though
You are quite right. Farming at £11bn is only 0.5% of the UK GDP. We import 46% of the foods we need - 80% coming, of course from our nearest neighbours in the EU.
And while I was checking those numbers (how was surprised what a small percentage of GDP farming is) I thought I’d check fisheries. That adds up just over £900m.
So why exactly was Farage on a fishing boat in the Thames in 2016? Fishing is tiny. Hardly significant at all. A tenth of half a percent of GDP. We import twice as much fish.
Struggling to see the Brexit benefit from these small industrial sectors?
And it will be CAP that meant the French agricultural sector is worth merely 95 bn euros. That CAP thing holds everything back.
I’ll pre-empt one obvious poor comparison between the two countries - size. UK is only 243,000 sq km whereas France 550,000 sq km. But 70% of the UK is farm land (175,000 sq km) and only 50% of France is farmed (275,000 sq km). So the UK has about two thirds of the farmed area - but its agriculture is worth a ninth. Give me details on why CAP is the cause of this please.
It’s the Common Agriculture Policy that has provided EU subsidies to UK farmers for leaving farmland fallow in favour of importing produce from France. The CAP is built around French farming and there is a reason for it.
I do not see detail in your reply. The stats I shared do not define actively farmed land as different from set aside or fallow. Your words are “and there is a reason for it”. And how did CAP favour non-UK farms? Perhaps you could share that reason so that we can all understand your views. Really, you must better explain your position.
Interesting, should the data on this site be valid, then just 1% of UKs jobs are in agriculture and just 3% are in financial services.
That means that the strongest part of UKs GDP (if I am not mistaken around 70%) are generated by just 3% of the working population.
The common market was created around Germany’s manufacturing and France’s agriculture…
You really need to do your history and learn this stuff, once again I’m having to educate you. It just shows after all these years you still have no idea why we voted to leave.
We trade mainly in services, and as I mentioned before, the UK does not have a large agriculture industry. We import most of our food as a result of about 50 years of EU membership and being tied to the CAP.
Before the EU we had the Commonwealth, which Heath abandoned to cement his stupidity in joining the common market. He also gave away our fishing and consequently the CFP emerged, which has allowed the wholesale devastation of our fish stocks over the past 50 years or so and also put the UK fleet out of business. In the 90’s when it was commonplace for UK fishermen to burn their boats and document it as evidence to claim compensation from the UK government in return for quota being given away to Spain and France.
Quite disgusting really. We should to the same to the foreign fleet.
We may not have a large agriculture industry but we don’t have the unemployment levels of the EU, especially the Eurozone and youth unemployment.
Thanks but what was expected was an insight into how the CAP did not work for the UK farming sector. What specifically acted as a brake on the output or productivity or quality of produce? Why did it work for France and not the UK? Your post simply makes an ascertain but provides no information or justification for your claim. Perhaps you could do some research, learn stuff and share it - and make fewer empty claims.
It just shows after all these years you still have no idea why you did not like the EU. You just did.
Why do I constantly have to educate you ? I mean, this is the EU that you adore and you have absolutely no clue how it all works.
I really do pity you.
Why not figure out what the CAP is and who benefits most from it, start there and feel free to ask if there is something you don’t understand. At least make some effort to learn something for yourself.
It is worth the effort, in my opinion “original” flavour is the best and you get 11 biscuits - all the other flavoured packets only have 9 biscuits however I do occasionally buy the “Chewy Caramel” but I feel robbed.
If the EU would agree to our agricultural items in the FTA negotiations then you would be able to get them cheaper.
