On March 29th 2017 the UK became again a sovereign democratic nation, joining the world’s circa 160 self governing nation states and leaving the 27 countries which decided to abolish themselves and create an anti democratic, corporatist, social and economic disaster called the European Union.
The future will be trading in goods and services, not in the mass movement of culturally alienated people. The Government must not accept the logic of supranational corporations and their desire to break down the nation states and democracies in the pursuit of profit. Compromise with that philosophy in the coming negotiations would be a grave mistake.
On the divorce “settlement” there can be no question of looking just at current financial commitments entered into while the UK was a member state. We must also look at the capital account – and the 44 year UK investment in the property and infrastructure of the EU. If the UK share in that investment is calculated – and repaid – then the EU may well owe the UK quite a few billions.
EXTRAORDINARY CONFIDENCE IN BRITAIN
But the good news about jobs, inward investment, trading partners and international confidence in the UK continues – something which the wiser German heads always feared!
The Accountancy firm PwC surveyed 550 global investors and 1300 CEOs who saw the UK’s prospects for growth as equal to Germany’s. In financial and technology prospects the UK is just behind the US and China. 89% of UK executives are confident about the business outlook – the highest number since 2013 and second in the world after Canada.
Qatar has committed £5 bn (on top of its existing £40 bn investments) to transport, property and digital technology and made it clear that the UK leaving the European Union had not affected its decision. “Currently the UK is our first investment destination and it is the largest investment destination for Qatari investors, both public and private,” Ali Shareef al Emadi, the country’s finance minister, told the BBC.
As a shareholder in Heathrow airport the Chief Executive of the Qatar Investment Authority said: “Our investment in Heathrow is much more than just an investment in one of the world’s great airports it is an investment in Britain’s connections to the world. As the UK re-shapes its role in the world we confirm our commitment as proud partners of a great trading nation”
In the UK the CBI Chief economist Rain Newton Smith describes the confidence of the British financial sector: “..…financial firms have begun the year with a spring in their step with volumes expanding at a robust pace, profitability improving and hiring on the up.”
The highly successful British corporation Dyson reports a 41% increase in profits to £631m. Sales are up 45% helped by growth in China (244%) Indonesia (266%) Philippines (200%). Dyson says the European Union only has 15% of the global market and the fast growing markets are in SE Asia. To meet these excellent prospects for international trade Dyson is investing £2.5 bn in the UK and doubling its 3,500 workforce
Despite Brexit, even the financial powerhouse of the German economy, DEUTSCHE BANK, has agreed new headquarters in London. “The move underlines the bank’s commitment to the City of London and the importance it attaches to being an employer of choice in the capital” Garth Ritchie, Chief Executive
BUSINESS MUST NOT DECIDE OUR DEMOCRATIC FUTURE
It was the confident corporatist fascist Helmut Kohl (“Might is right in politics and war”) who said that the UK would never leave the European Union “because British business would not allow it”. Apart from the extraordinary attitude to democracy (that businesses not voters decide!) Kohl was not only wrong about the British but it is German and French business which will not want to lose the City of London, the world’s greatest centre of finance, law and financial technology.
So it will be German and other European businessmen who will be lobbying for a smooth and fair Brexit – for their banks, car companies and property investors have far too much to lose from an acrimonious divorce which cuts them off from the wealth and jobs creating British economy – and their massive balance of trade surplus with us.
