Going back into Europe

Slight side swipe: we never left Europe. I do wish people would not equate the EU with Europe as a whole. Some people will probably groan about this comment but preciseness does matter. There are millions of Europeans living in European countries that are not part of the EU.

MerylStreep

^keep in mind it’s an economic club^
It was until the Maastricht treaty was signed: then it turned political.

That is how I feel/felt 👍🏻

Urmstongran

Well, well ...

“EU laws which banks have been accused of using to close customers’ accounts over their political views are expected to be scrapped under plans being considered by ministers.”

Source: today’s Telegraph.

I am sorry but The telegraph is incorrect (unsurprisingly) he rules relating to PEPs bank accounts etc are set by the FAFT - the international overseer of money laundering, fraud etc,

I assume that the government isn’t proposing to leave that as well? Although nothing would surprise me.

Until long term plans for NHS and Vare are in place we must hold doors open to fill vacancies.
Must because they are needed now.
Must because as we age we really feel our unmet needs
Must because many of us have dear family in crisis needing care.

I truly believe on these occupations we need to lower the income threshold as an emergency.

Both parties now have long term plans for workforce expansion but these are 15 year plans and certainly nothing of consequence for 5 years.

Care not Vare first line.

Let's just be clear about EU lawmaking. The Commission proposes Directives which are discussed by the EU Parliament (which is largely a talking shop) and the Council of Ministers which decides on them. If the Directive is approved each EU country makes it a law approved by its own Parliament. The Commission has no decision making power. When the UK was a member state it sent Ministers and PMs to the Council and for the most part the Directives approved were approved by UK Ministers. It is simply untrue that the UK was 'ruled' from Brussels or by the Commission or by foreigners. Nor is it true that the Commission can take away the voting rights of member states as claimed by some. Only the Council can do that after a lengthy process. The claim that the EU is undemocratic is nonsense. The Council is made up of Ministers of the member states who are in turn representing national governments elected by their respective populations. The notion that Brussels bureaucrats ruled the UK is total rubbish.

TiggyW

I’d like to see actual documented proof that we would be better off in the EU - that and proportional representation at the next election.

You old do some research yourself. A little bit of homework.

Whitewavemark2

Urmstongran

Well, well ...

“EU laws which banks have been accused of using to close customers’ accounts over their political views are expected to be scrapped under plans being considered by ministers.”

Source: today’s Telegraph.

I am sorry but The telegraph is incorrect (unsurprisingly) he rules relating to PEPs bank accounts etc are set by the FAFT - the international overseer of money laundering, fraud etc,

I assume that the government isn’t proposing to leave that as well? Although nothing would surprise me.

I do wonder why people still quote these newspapers. I know the Mail is now not acceptable on Wikipedia as they see it as an 'unreliable' source but all newspapers comments need checking and checking again.

old could

Hate to say it but the Daily Mail certainly still featured on Wikipedia when I looked just now. Just a normal entry. I think most newspapers lie, no difference except that one lies from a right wing perspective. I wouldn’t take the word of any of them, personally.

Nanna8 I think that DaisyAnne means that Wikipedia no longer accepts The Daily Mail as a source

FannyCornforth

Nanna8 I think that DaisyAnne means that Wikipedia no longer accepts The Daily Mail as a source

I did Fanny. Did I miss that out? My apologies if that was the case.

Trurider1

Ah, teh Rejoiners DREAM and LIES. The Pound never collapsewd against the Dollar and in fact appreciated against the Dollar whilst the EURo collapsed to Parity. The Eurozone is in RECESSION but not the UK. We saved Billions by not being in the EU and Our food Inflation is LOWER than the E.U. Only a tiny Minority want to rejoin the E.U.

Eh!

I can remember when £1 bought $2.40. It was the same for many years. We were in the US at the time of Trump's election as president. At that time sterling and dollars were at par.How the mighty sterling had fallen.

I don't understand why people are so against losing sterling.Apparently there are children now who have never seen coins or notes because plastic is increasingly being used. So once the actual coins and bank notes disappear does it matter?

Grantanow

Let's just be clear about EU lawmaking. The Commission proposes Directives which are discussed by the EU Parliament (which is largely a talking shop) and the Council of Ministers which decides on them. If the Directive is approved each EU country makes it a law approved by its own Parliament. The Commission has no decision making power. When the UK was a member state it sent Ministers and PMs to the Council and for the most part the Directives approved were approved by UK Ministers. It is simply untrue that the UK was 'ruled' from Brussels or by the Commission or by foreigners. Nor is it true that the Commission can take away the voting rights of member states as claimed by some. Only the Council can do that after a lengthy process. The claim that the EU is undemocratic is nonsense. The Council is made up of Ministers of the member states who are in turn representing national governments elected by their respective populations. The notion that Brussels bureaucrats ruled the UK is total rubbish.

I certainly agree that we were not "ruled" by Brussels. That was simply lazy right-wing rhetoric. I am always surprised to see it repeated all these years later.

However, that laziness was also on show in how, latterly, our government/s worked. They were still elected to run the country but seemed to sit back and do little.

Dinahmo

I don't understand why people are so against losing sterling.Apparently there are children now who have never seen coins or notes because plastic is increasingly being used. So once the actual coins and bank notes disappear does it matter?

Our fiduciary system is based, now, on a belief in our economy rather than how much gold we had stored up. If we adopted the Euro, its value would not only depend on our economy but the group of economies.

I think some people were afraid the value would be brought down by a few economies. However, (I'm happy for those with knowledge in this area to explain how correct or otherwise this is), my thinking is that it would average so it would drop less than the "worst" and bounce up less than the "best". This seems to be how the USA works. There is one caveat. Each country would still be as attractive to investors as its goverment makes it.

So my (untutored) thoughts are that people are less worried about "losing Stirling" than they are about a shared currency, even though that currency should/could be more stable.

Dinahmo

I don't understand why people are so against losing sterling.Apparently there are children now who have never seen coins or notes because plastic is increasingly being used. So once the actual coins and bank notes disappear does it matter?

The reason for not losing sterling is that at present the government has complete control of our currency. It is free to issue as much as it wants and free to sell its treasury bonds to finance some of its outgoings ( what folks popularly call 'borrowing). It loses this freedom once it becomes part of a cross state currency controlled by the EU Central Bank.

There is also the danger of having an economic 'orthodoxy' imposed on us, as Greece had austerity imposed on it. The reasoning behind 'austerity' is just a theory promulgated by a particular branch of economic thought. It is not an economic fact.

In fact, we know all about austerity, having had it imposed by the tories since they took power in 2010. We are living with its results right now. But we have the power to change direction without having to comply with any ECB imposed 'rules'.

At a day to day level in the eurozone the euro is a wonderful thing, no worrying about foreign exchange if you move from country to country, and it does the job of buying and selling within the eurozone absolutely fine. But being dependant on it takes away a country's monetary independence. That is truly one sovereignty we should never relinquish.

You are still completely able to run your economy though, arent you Maizie? The only reason Greece had group views imposed upon it was because they needed to borrow and borrow a great deal.

Even if you borrow to buy a home the lenders may dictate certain works are done, etc. As far as I am aware that's the only time it happens in the EU.