I obviously have more faith in the British spirit than some. Observing rules to export somewhere is what we do all round the world already. It may even be a healthy thing to be freed of the Euro shackles so we can plow our own furrow around the world. There are plenty of takers. I can see the argument that to change and improve the Euro Block it is easier to do so from within but frankly I feel there are just too many self interested parties for that ever to happen the way it is currently configured. There is no reason we cannot rejoin the EU at a subsequent point in history, on our terms, with hopefully a much stronger grip on trade around the world to bring to the table. Its what we do.

On immigration, when we are out of the EU, followed closely probably by Poland and possibly Italy we can initiate a sensible policy that encourages anyone from anywhere round the world with skills and required abilities to settle here whilst stopping the flood of economic migrants that we cannot support. These people are a global problem and its not just down to us to resolve the issue. We can help of course but its not something we can do alone.

I hope I don’t come across as being deliberately argumentative. It’s not the intention. I really enjoy the discussion and want to get to the bottom of things. Happy to continue this with those that are jnterested!

So...my queries on this are:

1) Is it not the case that a lot of the good trade we do outside of the EU is done on EU trade deals? What makes you think we’d do better alone? What about the significant period (years) it can take to negotiate even one?
2) Migration - what about the point that we already do have powers to restrict movement of EU citizens but choose not to do so? And the fact that it’s proven that on average EU migrant are net contributors fiscally? Don’t we already have control over ROW migration (that won’t change)?
3) Given so much of our trade an industry is intertwined with the EU, do you have any idea of the quantum needed from ROW new trade to compensate for cutting ourselves off from our EU partners? What might that look like and what industries?

The above questions IMO are somewhat rhetorical, but I’d love to know your thoughts.

Sadly so much of the argument against the EU I’ve seen in the press stems from a big misunderstanding.