Buying from EU

[RogerS]

Easy trade between member nations. Easy flow of goods and people. Alignment of standards (facilitating easy trade). Collective bargaining power in trade negotiations. Just as a starter.

I'd also argue; though I accept it's more contentious - that some level of shared rule-making provides a degree of protection against undue influence in any one country. Murdoch has had huge power over UK politicians for decades, and I don't doubt there will be other individuals and organisations that exert similar influence in other countries. However, that influence does not necessary extend across multiple countries; so it's a lot harder for one set of moneyed scumbags to influence/blackmail MEPs from multiple countries. I'm not naïve enough to think there is no corruption in MEP's decisions; they're human, therefore there will be some dodgy behaviour - just that the influence of local power players might be mitigated by that multinational shared decision making.

Think I may have confused you here. I was asking about the non-existent benefits of Brexit.

 

[Jake]

Worth waiting to see whether that changes once phytosanitary checks are implemented, we haven't really completed Brexit quite yet.

 

[jcassidy]

Think I may have confused you here. I was asking about the non-existent benefits of Brexit.

Oh.oh oh I got one!!!

One less election cycle folks have to put up with and turn out to vote for!

UK doesn't need MEPs anymore!

I mean, you still have to implement EU rules etc, but you don't have to vote for the folks agreeing the rules. That means more time watching Big Brother, Celebrity Island etc etc

 

[McAldo]

I must have missed the election where we voted for Von der Leyen.

You would have needed to be a an elected member of the EU parliament to do so.
So, if you voted one for the UK, they then voted for or against her. If you voted Farage maybe not though, because he only went to work 40 per cent of the time. He scrounged his full wage though and then full pension, so Brexit did not affected him much at all.
Still, a more democratic process than in the UK. Sunak, like all previous UK PMs, was selected and voted in only by his party, rather than by all elected representatives of the people.

On 2 July 2019, von der Leyen was proposed by the European Council as their candidate for the office of President of the European Commission.[4][5] On 16 July, her nomination was approved by the European Parliament with 383 to 327 votes.

Regarding the selection by the European council

The European Council consists of the heads of state or government of the member states, alongside its own President and the Commission President (both non-voting).

So, the European council members are elected as well, but of course only by the relative nations. In France, for instance, by all people, in the UK only by their party. If you voted Tory though, the UK head of state at the time was your representative.

All info above is from Wikipedia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Rhossydd]

Sunak, like all previous UK PMs, was selected and voted in only by his party, rather than by all elected representatives of the people.

No, there wasn't a party election at all. Sunak got it without anyone voting for him as all other candidates withdrew.
Last PM "elected" within the tory party was Liz Truss and we know how well that went :-(

 

[jcassidy]

No, there wasn't a party election at all. Sunak got it without anyone voting for him as all other candidates withdrew.
Last PM "elected" within the tory party was Liz Truss and we know how well that went :-(

But sure don't let facts get in the way of a good xenophobic rant. As Michael Gove said, people are tired of listening to experts.

We shouldn't retread all the false tropes that were trotted out anyway, I'm bored to death of it.

My personal experience is that it has been bad; I can't order off many UK companies, even if shipping to Northern Ireland. Amazon opening a warehouse in Dublin means I'm able to order small goods again from the platform.

FYI the ferry companies are operating more services direct from France and Spain, in the case of Spain, there hasn't been a direct service for many years. A recent news report with hauliers mentioned that only time-critical goods (i.e. food) use the land bridge route, everything else goes overnight to mainland. Now the import rules also apply to food (as of 31 Jan), they expect that to fall off as well. Lots of cash removed from UK economy!

 

[sploo]

Think I may have confused you here. I was asking about the non-existent benefits of Brexit.

Apologies; I misunderstood the post. OK, I'll make a list of those benefits:

 

[RogerS]

Apologies; I misunderstood the post. OK, I'll make a list of those benefits:

LOL....short list

 

[RogerS]

But sure don't let facts get in the way of a good xenophobic rant. As Michael Gove said, people are tired of listening to experts.

We shouldn't retread all the false tropes that were trotted out anyway, I'm bored to death of it.

My personal experience is that it has been bad; I can't order off many UK companies, even if shipping to Northern Ireland. Amazon opening a warehouse in Dublin means I'm able to order small goods again from the platform.

FYI the ferry companies are operating more services direct from France and Spain, in the case of Spain, there hasn't been a direct service for many years. A recent news report with hauliers mentioned that only time-critical goods (i.e. food) use the land bridge route, everything else goes overnight to mainland. Now the import rules also apply to food (as of 31 Jan), they expect that to fall off as well. Lots of cash removed from UK economy!

Have you noticed that those that used to expound the 'benefits....ahem' of Brexit are being very quiet? Wonder why?

 

[whereistheceilidh]

When buying from an EU country it all depends on whether the firm you are dealing with has got its act together. I purchased some tonewood from a German firm a week ago. I paid using Paypal and received the goods four days later. No problems, and the same service I got when I ordered from them. pre Brexit. Carriage, at £18.. was, however, not much less than the price of the goods.

It is def not just a case of getting an act together.
2 large multi-nationals who pay us have sorted it. They used to use British banks & now pay us via Irish banks. Hardly a win for the UK! Other smaller businesses like us do not have the time or money to set up the frequently elaborate processes that cover all the bases. Other unfortunates - in agriculure or fisheries do not even have the opportunity to 'get an act together'. Because of the stupid agreements reached when Brexit was 'done' they are more less excluded. It is only when folks accept the reality of the change that occured that some sort of path out of the mess may be clear......it will just need some good politicians to carry that out...now on to the next problem..........

 

[John Brown]

I think we can all agree that Brexit was a huge mistake, but hey, we lost! We have to get over it...

 

[niall Y]

It is def not just a case of getting an act together.
2 large multi-nationals who pay us have sorted it. They used to use British banks & now pay us via Irish banks. Hardly a win for the UK! Other smaller businesses like us do not have the time or money to set up the frequently elaborate processes that cover all the bases. Other unfortunates - in agriculure or fisheries do not even have the opportunity to 'get an act together'. Because of the stupid agreements reached when Brexit was 'done' they are more less excluded. It is only when folks accept the reality of the change that occured that some sort of path out of the mess may be clear......it will just need some good politicians to carry that out...now on to the next problem..........

I believe the OP'S specific question referred to buying from the EU, rather than selling to it There is no doubt that Brexit has made things extremely difficult for folks in the UK to trade with Europe. I believe the UK temporarily set aside some of the rules that govern goods coming from Europe which I'm sure has helped with the better flow of imports, as opposed to exports

That we could have avoided this whole "Ess aitch one tee- Show" is a whole other debate.

 

[Rhossydd]

It is only when folks accept the reality of the change that occured that some sort of path out of the mess may be clear......it will just need some good politicians to carry that out...now on to the next problem..........

Getting some decent politicians in is only part of the answer. What's also needed is an honest media that isn't controlled by a tiny number of foreign interests pushing their own agendas. Plus attempting to limit social media being used to push political advertising without any regulation.

 

[Keith Cocker]

I think we can all agree that Brexit was a huge mistake, but hey, we lost! We have to get over it...

No we damn well don’t! I will never accept the status quo on Brexit. It’s doing continuing damage to the UK and it should be reversed. That won’t be a one off job fueled with lies and ignorance like the Brexit win in 2016. It will take time.

 

[John Brown]

No we damn well don’t! I will never accept the status quo on Brexit. It’s doing continuing damage to the UK and it should be reversed. That won’t be a one off job fueled with lies and ignorance like the Brexit win in 2016. It will take time.

If only there was a sarcasm font...

 

[macetownhouse]

Hello,
A view from the outside, we are in Ireland and buying from UK has changed a lot.
Some businesses are a pleasure to deal with, Wood Workers Workshop have a very good website, the price displayed in Euro is the price paid, vat and customs built in and shipping priced at checkout.

Some other UK business's (S&S) doesn’t seem to want to sell into euro zone with prohibited shipping costs, so we are left paying customs delivery and vat on top of the delivery. This pretty much adds 50% to the costs. The customer service also leaves some thing to be improved…

For us Wood Workers or Sauter in Germany.