Ludicrous Labour
LET me clarify matters for Keir Starmer, the Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union: for the UK to join a (or the) EU customs union means that the UK will not be able to make trade agreements outside of the EU.
Free movement of labour would continue without restriction, and the UK would continue to have to provide all EU citizens with similar welfare benefits as UK citizens.
The UK would be subject to all EU rules and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), but the UK would not have any say in the formulation or application of those rules.
The UK would not be able to nationalise or renationalise industries as this would be deemed to be state aid giving an unfair competitive advantage over the rest of the EU.
The UK would have to accept the proposed regulation of financial services and would continue to pay an annual public sector fee for membership. And the UK would continue to suffer a trading account deficit of £80 billion per year with no prospect of it ever being reduced.
So what is the economic advantage to the UK of such a ludicrous position? The EU is unlikely to vary its position on membership terms of a custom union, based on the most recent rounds of negotiations.
I can’t see Keir Starmer or Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry being able to negotiate their way out of a wet paper bag, let alone with the EU — apart from caving in. Professor A. R. J. BENSTED,
St Briavels Common, Glos. IT’S one thing for Jeremy Corbyn to advocate a UK-EU customs union, but it’s pie in the sky to suggest the UK could have a say in any new trade pacts negotiated by the EU with other third party countries.
The EU already has enough difficulty getting all its 27 member states to agree on trade matters.
The brutal truth is that a UK-EU customs union means the UK would not just have to accept EU trade policy, but also have no say in its formulation.
YUGO KOVACH, Winterborne Houghton, Dorset. OF COURSE business leaders welcome Jeremy Corbyn’s call for a customs union. It will mean the supply of cheap immigrant labour would continue and they could avoid the need to recruit British workers and train and pay them properly. DAI BRADSHAW, Builth Wells, Powys.