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Brexit4

(1001 Posts)
granjura Fri 14-Oct-16 15:30:21

As I made a mistake and posted in 'Brexit, power to the people' - here is Brexit4.

I know some of you don't like 'experts' or their opinions, but I do urge all to listen to this man again, from Liverpool University, calmly and expertly explaining what the single market is, and how it does work

www.facebook.com/UniversityofLiverpool/videos/1397204436973623/

granjura Thu 27-Oct-16 20:55:56

Because if you do it for one, you will have to do it for all. So all the big companies will threaten to leave- and then expect special payments to stay... a dangerous slippery slope.

If they alter the tax system in other countries to lure companies there, then it will be for all. Totally different.

daphnedill Thu 27-Oct-16 22:07:42

It's ironic that a party committed to low tax and 'small state' looks as though it's promising the very opposite to business. If businesses can't survive without government support, it's because the context in which they're working isn't profitable. A free market would let those businesses flounder, just as it did with coal and steel in the UK. Low business taxes and/or state support for selected businesses leads to a race to the bottom and a distorted market, which isn't good news for anybody.

durhamjen Thu 27-Oct-16 22:27:21

You'll have to be patient, POGS, just like me.

nigglynellie Thu 27-Oct-16 22:28:03

granjura It's just for luring banks! Exactly the same I'd say!

daphnedill Thu 27-Oct-16 22:40:03

No, it isn't, because whatever assurances have been given to Nissan are for one specific company, not all companies nor even all car companies.

Ana Thu 27-Oct-16 22:40:31

Well, it's been a good day for Brexiteers and UK Nissan workers! And at least it's kept the Remainers quiet for a while...

moon

Welshwife Thu 27-Oct-16 22:50:11

So far too secret! Maybe she told them she intends to make sure we will not be leaving after all!!!

durhamjen Thu 27-Oct-16 23:58:23

Strangely enough, I have just been reading a message from my MP about the North East devolution deal.
She said that a failure by the councils to get assurances from the government over funding following Brexit was the last straw....

daphnedill Fri 28-Oct-16 00:22:43

Dream on, Ana! This really isn't some kind of competition. It's about people who are concerned about their country, who have a right (and, hopefully, always will have a right) to speak out.

Of course it's good news for Nissan workers, but on what terms? They won't be in any better situation than they were before the referendum. They won't have "taken back control" of anything.

Of course nobody knows what kind of "assurances" were given, but in the end there will be a price to pay. Will Jaguar Land Rover be given the same kind of assurances? If financial support was promised (and Nissan has hinted that it would settle for nothing less) where is this money coming from? Surely not the £350,000 a day NHS money...oh, hang on!

durhamjen Fri 28-Oct-16 00:36:23

Greg Clarke on Question Time seemed to imply it was a deal for the whole car industry.

daphnedill Fri 28-Oct-16 01:03:23

Interesting! hmm He also claims the deal doesn't involve finance, so I guess we'll have to wait to see what the government has up its sleeve.

I hope I'm around in ten or twenty years to see what the UK will actually have gained from Brexit. It seems as though there are manoeuvres afoot to retain as much of the status quo as possible.

Nissan and other big manufacturers have said that they don't want to restrict freedom of movement. This is beginning to look as though Brexit won't be quite so 'hard' as some people had hoped, which is just as well, because some of the ideas about casting the UK off as an "island entire of itself" would be a disaster.

whitewave Fri 28-Oct-16 04:27:56

If the deal does not involve the tax payer, then it is assurances about the free market - got to be.

daphnedill Fri 28-Oct-16 05:02:47

I wasn't a fly on the wall in any talks, but it would seem to be an educated guess.

MaizieD Fri 28-Oct-16 08:42:07

If it's assurances about the free market I don't see how T M is in any position to make them. Yet it would have to be something very concrete to convince Nissan that it is worth staying here.

daphnedill Fri 28-Oct-16 09:38:52

Curious and curiouser!

It would appear that all Nissan cars manufactured in Sunderland are sold to Nissan Switzerland before going to EU customers.

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2230999/Nissan-sells-UK-cars-Switzerland-tax-ruse.html

daphnedill Fri 28-Oct-16 09:41:16

uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-nissan-support-idUKKCN12R2FI

MaizieD Fri 28-Oct-16 10:10:10

dd I think that Nissan 'sells' its UK production to its Swiss company because Switzerland taxes their profits at a lower rate. That's sort of what I deduced from these articles:

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2016/10/28/whats-really-going-on-with-nissan/

www.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-nissan-support-idUKKCN12R2FI

I wonder how that would affect the costs of exporting from here to Europe if we were out of the single market?

And what about the referendum coming up in Switzerland?

Welshwife Fri 28-Oct-16 10:15:54

I saw about Switzerland too this morning - but if that were the case and it was just going to continue why did Nissan need to make any sort of fuss at all? Do all the car makers do it in some way?.
Greg what's it said that a 'chequebook ' was not involved - not that no money was involved - it could be in another form such as much lower taxes etc.

daphnedill Fri 28-Oct-16 10:26:41

I honestly don't know enough about international tax and tax havens, ww. Is this all part of the 'secret plan', which the government is keeping confidential? Is the idea for all UK businesses to set up Swiss HQs, so they can be taxed less and still have free access to EU markets? It sounds a bit dodgy, but what do I know? What happens to the UK's share of corporate tax?

I think there should be more transparency. After all, we're supposed to be 'taking back control', not handing it over to big business and Swiss bankers.

durhamjen Fri 28-Oct-16 11:12:20

Can't wait for Hitachi to get in on the act.

durhamjen Fri 28-Oct-16 11:18:37

Maizie, I was up til 1.00 a.m. and kept expecting Taxresearch to have an article on it.
I like the phrase 'hoardes of ethically challenged individuals who work for the big four' in Ivan Horrocks' response.

Ana Fri 28-Oct-16 11:20:45

He needs to get a better Spellcheck.

durhamjen Fri 28-Oct-16 11:23:34

Isn't the chancellor talking about reducing corporation tax to 10%?
That will give all the exporting companies a boost, and negate the 10% tariffs if that is going to happen.
However, as Richard Murphy states, it will be the poor who have to make up the shortfall.

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2016/10/23/what-cutting-corporation-tax-to-10-would-mean-for-the-uk/

durhamjen Fri 28-Oct-16 11:24:54

Really, Ana? That's your contribution to this debate?

durhamjen Fri 28-Oct-16 11:25:51

Daphne, Nestle are okay then, already having a Swiss HQ.

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