The weaker pound is not good for my business, far from it.
But my point still stands, the £ has been over valued for too long. I do genuinely believe that it will find itself at around €1.18 to the £ when things settle down, it may drop considerably before that, but that is where it should be for prices across Europe to make sense.
Out of interest, if we're not in the Eurozone, why should prices make sense anyway in the UK compared to other parts of the EU? After all, I can go to Lisbon and buy an espresso in a tourist cafe next door to the castle in the old town area and pay 50c for it, 45p at today's rate or 35p when I was there two years back. There's nowhere in the UK I could get an espresso for that little. Under £1.20 would be a miracle. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Compared to ''our peers" and "the other more developed Western European nations" in Europe, your words, we have been a good 20-30% cheaper than them on identical products for the last few years.
Not saying this is right or wrong, just saying that makes 'me' feel that we have had an over valued pound.
Don't get me wrong I love getting €1.44 to the £, but can see it settling at around €1.18 and us coping with that.
Lisbon is a good example, we earn around 230% more than in Portugal in 2015 and around 175% more than them if we stay at €1.10.
If they were selling you that coffee and charging £1.05 for that coffee would they actually sell any to the locals?
But we are talking about goods, not services, clothing, footwear, appliances, cars etc. etc. where we have had them consistently cheaper.
From speaking with my Scottish in-laws, you talk sense.
All I'd add is that the SNP view of what independence would look like (the pro-EU view) is not necessarily the same as that of the Scottish Tories or Scottish Labour. In other words, independence ought to come first, then the issue of the EU after independence is achieved.
Also, don't underestimate the political pressure the announcement puts on the UK Government. If Theresa May says no to a referendum, the Scots won't appreciate it and undecided voters will possibly lean towards yes to independence. If Theresa May says yes to a referendum, the SNP look strong in the eyes of their supporters. It's a win-win for the SNP.
Apologies if this has already been posted elsewhere in the topic thread data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
As for your thoughts on Scottish nationalism versus English nationalism, I'd say that the SNP have focussed on soft nationalism that use the dissatisfaction with Westminster and the Conservatives in particular to bolster the position of wanting independence. It's also marketed as a more inclusive nationalism concentrating on social cohesion and inclusive policies (which you may or may not agree with).
Conversely, in my mind, English nationalism has solely focussed on staving off far-right groups that try to appropriate the message for their own aims. To many it has its roots in football hooliganism. In the 70s it was the NF, then it was the NF, the BNP and Combat18, then the BNP, then Britain First and the English Democrats. I've never seen a form of English nationalism that is inclusive to all and doesn't end up sobbing into a half-empty pint glass about how the country isn't what it was and the glory of the Empire days is all but a distant memory. It doesn't help that it has often in the past been defined by fighting Irish nationalism, both verbally and physically.
I don't know how English nationalism would even view someone like me who was born here to parents who immigrated from India decades ago. Would I be English enough for them? All I know is that in Scotland, the same issue wouldn't apply if I had been born there and joined the SNP.
our trade deal has to be approved by all member states of the EU, once we have finally left the EU we can make deals without any involvement of any EU members, of course we trade with the world at the moment but under certain rules with the EU, but we lose out on a lot of trade because members of the EU keep vetoing deals with countries, i think the EU - USA deal has been still in negotiation for about 10 years now and it's still going on.
Any examples of deals we could have done that were thwarted
Odd question.As we haven't been allowed to sign our own trade deals, it is pretty hard to give examples of deals that were 'thwarted'.
But off the top of my head, I think the UK could have completed deals with the USA and Canada far quicker than the EU.
And then we could potentially also go for deals with China, India, Australia, etc.
If trade deals are vetoed surely they have to be proposed first
I also thought that ttip was thought to bea bad deal for the UK
Also what kind of trade deals are we talking about :- free trade all products , free trade some products , something else ?
Both?
Deals can't be thwarted or vetoed if they are never negotiated because one side isn't allowed to cut deals.