EXCLUSIVE: “Sheer scale of EU’s unlevel playing field beggars belief”

Revealed: EU’s trade surplus with UK tops £1 TRILLION in 20 years from year 2000

© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2020 - click to enlarge

As a ‘trade deal’ nears agreement, Facts4EU.Org shows the slope of the ground it will stand on

In the 20 years to 2019, the EU27’s SURPLUS in its trade in goods with the UK surpassed the £1 trillion mark. That’s one TRILLION. Pounds, not Euros.

Strangely, no-one from the EU nor from the mainstream media has mentioned this.

Ahead of the ‘trade deal’ expected to be agreed by the end of this weekend, Brexit Facts4EU.Org analyses the latest trade figures to bring MPs and the public the astonishing magnitude of the EU’s unlevel playing field.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

EU member states’ trade in goods with the UK in the last 20 years, 2000 - 2019

  • Exports to the UK: £3,836,536 million (£3.8 trillion)
  • Imports from the UK: £2,774,495 million (£2.8 trillion)
  • Trade surplus with UK: £1,060,606 million (£1 trillion)

© Brexit Facts4EU.Org - click to enlarge

[Sources: House of Commons Library and ONS, 10 Nov 2020]

The sheer scale of the EU’s unlevel playing field beggars belief

In the past 20 years, the EU countries’ goods exports to the UK were £1,060,606,000,000 more than their goods imports from the UK.

This is the playing field on which the EU has spent the last four-and-a-half years imposing draconian terms on the UK and claiming that the UK must not be allowed to “threaten the integrity of the Single Market with unfair competition”.

It beggars belief that it is the EU which has acted like this, when in fact it is the UK that has every right to demand stiff trading terms from the EU, not the other way around.

The smoking gun

Writing for Facts4EU.Org earlier this month, in a two-part article here and here the economist Professor David Blake explained how the structurally undervalued Euro has enabled EU countries to ‘dump’ goods onto the UK market, leaving many British companies unable to compete effectively.

It can certainly be argued that the huge imbalance in trade between the EU and the UK in the 20 years since the Euro’s inception is the ‘smoking gun’ which proves the case.

“But what about services?”

Before Remainers start deflecting as usual and say “But what about services?”, three basic facts need to be pointed out.

  1. This ‘trade deal’ is about goods and the EU’s attempts to interfere in the UK’s constitution, its internal laws, and its fiscal, environmental, and societal standards. The EU has repeatedly refused to discuss a full agreement encompassing services – the UK’s strength.
  2. The UK runs a relatively small surplus in services with the the EU – far less than to the rest of the world – but even if this were included the EU would still have a £0.83 trillion surplus.
  3. When talking about “protecting the integrity of the Single Market”, the EU are primarily talking about trade in goods as this is what the Single Market has been all about.

Once again we must remind Remainer politicians – and even the big name Leave organisations who failed to rebut them - that the Single Market never worked for services, by the admission of the EU Commission itself.

“The Single Market – this jewel that is all too often taken for granted –
does not function properly for services

- Elżbieta Bieńkowska, EU Commissioner for the Single Market, 2017

Observations

It scarcely seems credible that the UK is still talking to the EU about a ‘trade deal’, given the continuing absurdity of the EU’s arguments regarding its Single Market. Yet that, apparently, is exactly what is still happening.

The MEPs of the EU Parliament have now issued an ultimatum that a deal must be agreed by midnight on Sunday, or they will refuse to discuss and ratify it by 31 December. We wish that MPs in the House of Commons had issued a similar ultimatum back in June – or at the latest by another one of the PM’s many missed deadlines, on 15 October. This deal will require major scrutiny over a great many weeks.

The raw facts above demonstrate very clearly that it is the UK that should be imposing demands on the EU, in order to protect the single market of the United Kingdom. As this has not been done, and as the UK is seemingly now giving up more and more of its sovereignty in the form of concessions, we see no possibility of any ‘trade deal’ being remotely acceptable.

Once again we urge the Prime Minister to walk away and then rescind and void the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration on the grounds of the EU’s bad faith and failure to agree a normal trade deal.

Even at this late hour Boris Johnson still has the opportunity to become a hero of democracy and freedom, and to deliver a genuinely free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom to the people. We hope he seizes the moment.

Finally, we badly need your help to continue this work into the final battle. Readers who have not already donated to fund our work (which involves no limos, no secretaries, no long lunches – unlike the EU Commission) could do so in a two shakes of a Juncker martini. Quick, secure, and confidential donation links are below this article. We only survive on public donations – unlike some Remainer organisations no foreign billionaires have ever funded us, sadly. Come to that, no domestic billionaires have ever funded us either...

[ Sources: HoCL | ONS | EU Commission ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Fri 18 Dec 2020

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