Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Mallett
Ah you mean the corn laws? They were discredited as you know. Actually what you are espousing is protectionism and I believe the EU commissioners have already said they don't want to revert to protectionism.
|
yes, I was referring to the corn laws
which were good and bad, depending on where one stood
half (!) of the farms in East Anglia were given up and deserted at the end of the 19th century, after the corn laws were abolished, mainly due to extremely cheap corn and grain from the midwest of the USA
on the other hand, hunger and famine came to an end when they were abolished, for the nation as a whole good, for the farmers very bad
which is why I dont get why a UK farmer could vote Brexit
especially not when the terms were unclear
As to the EU position on protectionism
its is actually quite cynical
EU claims they dont want protectionism (when is suits them)
but they only open their own markets as far as they absolutely have to
but then everybody else plays the same game
dont get me wrong, personally, I am pro free trade, I am a trader, the more the better
but Peter; I was not writing about the EU. The EU position is clear and defined and works (mostly)
I was referring to post Brexit UK, You as a nation will make your own deals
and before doing this will have to decide, whom to favor.
farmers ? city dwellers ? industry ?
but yes, my advice to UK would be to think deep and hard how to protect your farmers post Brexit.
Completely free trade would kill a large part of your farming or change them beyond recognition.
UK would be one of the very very few completely open markets with buying power, expect to get swamped by the lowest cost producer worldwide
and it would be people like who would do this.
RuE