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Anda Skoa's avatar

I can see a third reaction to the incoming ETIAS procedures: selling that as a Brexit bonus.

Yes, that sounds counter intuitive at first, however, we need to remember that the UK electorate also celebrated the Schengen opt-out as something positive.

The new checks are just a more thorough version of those, essentially a strengthened opt-out.

Given that a good portion of British apparently values the formalities when leaving and re-entering the country, isn't it likely that they will also value a more sophisticated version?

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Parcel Of Rogue's avatar

As a small niche manufacturer of electronic devices who also manufactures in EU country Poland, importing and exporting around the world, I am absolutely dreading this new regime of customs checks, percentage origin content to be assessed and duty tariffs coming in. This is not free trade. That is an important point because Johnson sold this as a Free Trade Agreement with the EU. It is far worse than our trade with countries where we do not have free trade agreements, such as USA.

If these restrictions to trade and travel come in after the General Election, the popular right wing press will attempt to pin it on Labour as well as "EU are punishing is for leaving". The measures do not apply to just the UK, but all non EU/EEA & EFTA countries where there are no alternative agreements. In 2018, before we left the EU, I went through German customs with a Mexican national. I went straight through, but she was held up for 20-25 minutes and that was not at an especially busy time, such as school holiday peaks in August. I dread the thought of the queues, especially as austerity and staff shortages only ever seem to get worse.

Starmer has said no to the Single Market and Customs Union, yet at the time of the stupid vote, the Leave campaigners said "nobody is suggesting we leave the Single market....it would be mad...etc". Starmer has an admirable Industrial & Green strategy, with Labour and LibDem economic & green policy closer than I can ever remember them, perhaps quietly judged to encourage anti Tory tactical voting. But if we go with these trade and travel restrictions, the economy is going to remain moribund and the extra growth needed to pay for public services is not going to arrive, at least not remotely sufficiently. Starmer is going to have to find reasons to back peddle on joining the SM & CU or something similar, or his administration will be seen as a failure on the main issue and the public will lose interest in having a change of government from our corrupt and incompetent right wing default party. Voters will stay at home or drift back and the momentous chance to transform Britain would be lost.

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