Latest news with #Brexiteers
New European
4 days ago
- Business
- New European
When Ireland and Luxembourg saved Britain from Liz Truss
To be fair he was, as all central bank governors tend to be, very diplomatic. There are imbalances in world trade, and Brexit was not a bad idea, because it was not purely an economic decision, that kind of thing. But after those necessary caveats, he delivered a perfectly balanced argument for why Trump and Farage are wrong. He gave it both barrels. Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, was due to give a speech in Dublin last year, but he had to drop out when the General Election was called, and maybe it is just as well he did. Because he has been back to give that speech this week – he used it to attack Trump and Brexit, remorselessly. Rather like Mark Anthony he is, you understand, not criticising the assassins; they are honourable men. It is just that when it comes to the UK's membership of the EU and Trump's attack on free trade 'The good is oft interred with their bones'. Or as the governor put it in Dublin: 'From Adam Smith onwards, it has broadly been accepted that trade supports specialisation and efficiency of production and it enables knowledge transfer, and these features support productivity and economic growth.' This is central banker talk for, 'a five-year-old knows more than Trump and the Brexiteers about trade'. Bailey continued: 'It follows that if the level of trade is lowered by some action, it will have an effect to reduce productivity growth and thus overall growth. Just as tariffs, by increasing the cost, can reduce the scale of trade, the same goes for the type of non-tariff barrier that Brexit has created.' Simply put, Trump's tariffs and Farage's Brexit are two sides of the same coin, and both are making their own countries poorer. Thank you and good night, you might think. But there is more. Without mentioning her by name, Bailey also pointed out that it was only with the cooperation of Ireland and Luxembourg that the Bank of England was able to rescue the UK's bond market from the imminent collapse caused by Liz Truss's 'mini budget'. Ouch! It seems cooperation with your friends and neighbours is a good thing. Best not mention this to Liz. She thinks Andrew Bailey is part of a global plot to do her down. 'I think powerfully,' continued the governor, 'that we should do all we can to minimise negative effects on trade.' And that while last week's reset with the EU was good news for both sides 'not enough has been done to facilitate trade in manufactured goods and in my view both sides should now be looking at what can be done'. Bailey also wants more cooperation on financial and services trade too. 'The scale of investment needed requires access to global capital, supported by open financial markets. The alternative is fragmentation, which we have unfortunately seen in the global economy in recent years'. I can only assume he means Brexit. 'As such,' he continued, 'there is merit in seeking to increase the openness of our financial markets by reducing non-tariff barriers.' To which one can only add 'Let but the commons hear this testament' – or at least the Labour government, because the governor is speaking truth to power, and he is right to do so. And let us be clear: for all his central bank diplomacy, the caveats and the careful language, Andrew Bailey went to Dublin not to praise Brexit but to bury it.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Bailey calls for closer EU ties to counter ‘negative effects' of Brexit
Andrew Bailey has urged Sir Keir Starmer to build closer links with the EU to counter the 'negative effects' of Brexit and boost trade in the face of Donald Trump's tariffs. The Governor of the Bank of England cheered the Prime Minister's deal with Brussels and said that more could be done to bolster commercial links across the Channel. 'Just as the Windsor Agreement on trade involving the UK and Ireland was a welcome step forward, so too are the initiatives of the current UK Government to rebuild trade between the UK and EU,' Mr Bailey told an audience in Dublin. His words risk being seen as controversial, as the Governor's predecessor Mark Carney, who is now Prime Minister of Canada, frequently angered Brexit supporters through his perceived criticism of the decision to leave the EU. Mr Bailey stressed that he 'take[s] no position on Brexit per se' but was concerned with the economic implications. 'If the level of trade is lowered by some action, it will have an effect to reduce productivity growth and thus overall growth. Just as tariffs, by increasing the cost, can reduce the scale of trade, the same goes for the type of non-tariff barrier that Brexit has created,' the Governor said. 'This does not mean that Brexit is wrong, because there can be other reasons for it, but it does suggest, I think powerfully, that we should do all we can to minimise negative effects on trade.' His comments come after Sir Keir Starmer signed a 'reset' deal with the EU, which will force the UK to follow European food standards and submit to the European Court of Justice. The agreement means fewer customs checks on exports to EU nations, but was dismissed as 'the worst of both worlds' by Brexiteers and Labour rebels. Sir Keir has been criticised for agreeing to follow EU rules without having a say over their design, whilst also potentially imperilling a deal with the US by signing up to Brussels' standards. Mr Bailey urged the Prime Minister to go further than the 'reset' deal and seek closer ties with the EU in financial markets. 'The scale of investment needed requires access to global capital, supported by open financial markets,' he said. 'As such, there is merit in seeking to increase the openness of our financial markets by reducing non-tariff barriers.' In the same speech, Mr Bailey also acknowledged there were problems in global trade that needed to be addressed. He said Mr Trump's assault on the trading system was not 'wrong-headed' and agreed with the US president's claim that the international economy was suffering from 'unsustainable trade imbalances'. The Governor highlighted Mr Trump's argument that 'the rules of the world trade system … have broken down,' pointing to China's vast use of subsidies as a factor driving imbalances. He cited research from the International Monetary Fund that shows Beijing has implemented thousands of support schemes for critical industries in recent years. Mr Bailey said: 'While I am an unshaken believer in free trade, I do accept that the system has come under too much strain, we have to work hard now to rebuild it, and it is incorrect to dismiss those who argue for restrictions on trade as just wrong-headed. 'We need to understand what lies behind these arguments. That said, I want to get back to an open trading system.' The Governor said said the US president's policies were more of a symptom of the problems in trade than the cause. 'If it is believed that tariff action is needed to create the shock and awe to get these issues on to the table and dealt with, then something has gone wrong with the multilateral system, and we need to deal with that,' he said. The Governor warned against 'retreat[ing] indiscriminately from global trade', arguing 'diversifying supply chains among reliable partners who abide by international law' was the best way to protect against geopolitical risks. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Bailey calls for closer EU ties to counter ‘negative effects' of Brexit
Andrew Bailey has urged Sir Keir Starmer to build closer links with the EU to counter the 'negative effects' of Brexit and boost trade in the face of Donald Trump's tariffs. The Governor of the Bank of England cheered the Prime Minister's deal with Brussels and said that more could be done to bolster commercial links across the Channel. 'Just as the Windsor Agreement on trade involving the UK and Ireland was a welcome step forward, so too are the initiatives of the current UK Government to rebuild trade between the UK and EU,' Mr Bailey told an audience in Dublin. His words risk being seen as controversial, as the Governor's predecessor Mark Carney, who is now Prime Minister of Canada, frequently angered Brexit supporters through his perceived criticism of the decision to leave the EU. Mr Bailey stressed that he 'take[s] no position on Brexit per se' but was concerned with the economic implications. 'If the level of trade is lowered by some action, it will have an effect to reduce productivity growth and thus overall growth. Just as tariffs, by increasing the cost, can reduce the scale of trade, the same goes for the type of non-tariff barrier that Brexit has created,' the Governor said. 'This does not mean that Brexit is wrong, because there can be other reasons for it, but it does suggest, I think powerfully, that we should do all we can to minimise negative effects on trade.' His comments come after Sir Keir Starmer signed a 'reset' deal with the EU, which will force the UK to follow European food standards and submit to the European Court of Justice. The agreement means fewer customs checks on exports to EU nations, but was dismissed as 'the worst of both worlds' by Brexiteers and Labour rebels. Sir Keir has been criticised for agreeing to follow EU rules without having a say over their design, whilst also potentially imperilling a deal with the US by signing up to Brussels' standards. Mr Bailey urged the Prime Minister to go further than the 'reset' deal and seek closer ties with the EU in financial markets. 'The scale of investment needed requires access to global capital, supported by open financial markets,' he said. 'As such, there is merit in seeking to increase the openness of our financial markets by reducing non-tariff barriers.' In the same speech, Mr Bailey also acknowledged there were problems in global trade that needed to be addressed. He said Mr Trump's assault on the trading system was not 'wrong-headed' and agreed with the US president's claim that the international economy was suffering from 'unsustainable trade imbalances'. The Governor highlighted Mr Trump's argument that 'the rules of the world trade system … have broken down,' pointing to China's vast use of subsidies as a factor driving imbalances. He cited research from the International Monetary Fund that shows Beijing has implemented thousands of support schemes for critical industries in recent years. Mr Bailey said: 'While I am an unshaken believer in free trade, I do accept that the system has come under too much strain, we have to work hard now to rebuild it, and it is incorrect to dismiss those who argue for restrictions on trade as just wrong-headed. 'We need to understand what lies behind these arguments. That said, I want to get back to an open trading system.' The Governor said said the US president's policies were more of a symptom of the problems in trade than the cause. 'If it is believed that tariff action is needed to create the shock and awe to get these issues on to the table and dealt with, then something has gone wrong with the multilateral system, and we need to deal with that,' he said. The Governor warned against 'retreat[ing] indiscriminately from global trade', arguing 'diversifying supply chains among reliable partners who abide by international law' was the best way to protect against geopolitical risks. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Are we entering the post-Brexit era?
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. As he unveiled his much-touted "reset" deal with the EU, Keir Starmer said it is time to move on from "political fights" and "stale old debates" about Brexit. Nearly 10 years on from the Brexit referendum, and more than five since the UK formally left the EU, the new agreement strengthens ties over areas including fishing, trade, defence and energy. Starmer's appeal to "common sense" and "practical solutions" may strike a chord with the public, but his "big bet" is that "nobody really cares" about Brexit any more, said the BBC's chief political correspondent Henry Zeffman. "This was the day the Brexit dream died," said the Daily Mail in an editorial, while The Express called it "a betrayal dressed up as a policy". Staunch Brexiteers will "blast" Starmer "on fisheries, rule taking and youth migration", while diehard Remainers "will argue it's a meek deal that hasn't gone far enough to repair the economic scars of Brexit", said Politico. But "this fight down the middle is one the prime minister's quite happy to pick", while the Conservatives and Reform UK, both of whom have described the deal as a "surrender", "risk sounding like broken records on Brexit". With this deal – coming in the same month that trade agreements were announced with the US and India – Starmer has managed the "impossible", said The Independent: "to have his cake and eat it". When Labour under Starmer "pivoted" in 2020, from campaigning for a second referendum to a policy of "make Brexit work", "nobody really took it seriously". But he has "succeeded where others failed and managed to break the Brexit conundrum". Despite the "upbeat rhetoric", some of the "most difficult issues to resolve have been pushed back into future negotiations" – including the shape of a youth mobility scheme, said The Times. The deal also "leaves a number of difficult questions unanswered", such as how much Britain will have to pay to access the new EU defence fund and to align with the EU food standards and energy trading system. But the government hopes that voters will warm to the tangible effects of a "reset" in relations with the EU, including cheaper food and energy, and a reduction of red tape for small businesses. What will "prove revealing over the coming days, weeks, and months" is how much Reform and the Conservatives decide to campaign around the idea of a Brexit "betrayal", said the BBC's Zeffman. If opposition to the deal becomes a "significant part of these parties' platforms, it will tell us that they believe there is in fact plenty of controversy yet in the decades-long debate over the UK's relationship with the EU". If that's right, it could thrust questions about Brexit "right back to the centre of political life. "But if Sir Keir is right that the bulk of the public simply wants as little friction with the EU as possible, then he could prove to be our first truly post-Brexit prime minister."
Scotsman
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Why it's clear Starmer's EU deal barely makes dent in Brexit damage
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... It was back to the future in Basel last weekend as Eurovision returned to its Swiss roots. Sixty-nine years ago today, the first contest took place in Lugarno with the home side winning with the song Refrain. Decades on, the contest remains a European fixture. We also had a week of nostalgia in Westminster with a return to the Brexit debates and very little 'refraining' from the Brexiteers who got us into this mess. Their reactions to the EU trade deal didn't show the UK in a terribly positive light. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Westminster politicians and media still don't seem to understand the EU, the UK's most important political, strategic and economic partner, much to the country's detriment. Even the Chancellor got carried away saying that the UK was now the best-placed state on Earth for trade, with very little to back up that grand assertion. The Eurovision Song Contest is still going strong nearly seven decades after this example of international cooperation began (Picture: Keystone) | Getty Images Post-Brexit years a disaster for UK In the opposite corner, Brexiteers compared the agreement, rather disgracefully, to Neville Chamberlain's ill-fated deal with the Nazis. Maybe they could all have done with a sense of perspective. This was not the great breakthrough sought by pro-Europeans after what has been a disastrous few years for the UK. Similarly, it was not an end to Brexit, unfortunately. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Rather, as the Swiss would advise, being outside the EU means an ongoing process of negotiation and renegotiation. The Swiss have been singing this song for decades and the UK can expect the same for decades to come if it insists on staying outside the Single Market and Customs Union. Just like Eurovision, and I say this as a fan of the song contest, Brexit never did quite go away and, bluntly, it never quite will. So much of the case for leaving the EU was predicated on the belief that, once the UK left, the rest of Europe would follow its lead and abandon Brussels. We were told that the French and Dutch would be just behind the British and that even pro-European Ireland would be left with no option but to leave. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Europe stronger than ever The reverse has been the case. Europe remained united, and was resolutely behind Dublin in the difficult years after the Brexit referendum. As the UK floundered, Europeans looked in disbelief at the harm that a previously sensible member state was inflicting upon itself. That Union became even more important in the aftermath of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 when Europe's states pulled closer together for security, mindful that the first Trump presidency had already left them dangerously exposed, and the Atlantic alliance undermined. There is no question of the EU falling apart and even the most Eurosceptic of political parties have abandoned policies to leave. The UK's departure strengthened the bloc with European citizens well aware that it had damaged itself with nothing tangible in return. We are now in a world where the EU is stronger and more important than ever. It will also inevitably get bigger in the years to come with Moldova, Ukraine and the Balkans eyeing up membership in the east, and Norway and Iceland reassessing their relationship with the bloc in the west. Across the north Atlantic, Canada is looking to deepen its ties with the EU. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Given Russia's threats to its neighbours, Brexit quickly became a sideshow for most European leaders. This week's so-called breakthrough was anything but. Assessments suggest that the deal could add 0.2 per cent to the UK's GDP by, wait for it, 2040. That stands in contrast to the UK Government's calculation that 4 per cent of GDP has been lost due to the UK leaving the EU. That is a massive gap and goes a long way to explain why the country is still in the economic funk it is. The bare minimum This might be tinkering but you can't blame some businesses for welcoming the deal. After years of the UK Government throwing up barriers to trade, which have been especially damaging to small businesses, naturally they welcome some, albeit limited, removal of red tape. There is a sense of some relief whilst recognising this is less than the bare minimum we should have expected. As for other parts of the agreement, some young people may see some benefits, but again it's a far cry from the freedom of movement that my generation enjoyed. To be a young British passport-holder means having fewer rights than young people in any other western European state. Hardly, a badge of pride. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In Scotland, there is understandable anger in the fishing community that has struggled with a Brexit that never delivered on the promises made a decade ago, compounded by a new agreement at their expense. For older generations, this will bring back memories of the fishing community being described as 'expendable' when the UK first joined. That would have been unthinkable if Scotland was a full member state. Keep on talking There was also frustration and anger in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh when, true to form, the UK did not consult the devolved administrations. Ministers argued that there was no time, but the EU managed to keep 27 different governments, as well as the European Parliament and other stakeholders, in agreement throughout the process. As Ireland showed throughout Brexit, states can protect their interests, including fishing, even in the most difficult of circumstances. As part of the UK, Scotland has no such recourse. Whereas the European Union is a club for independent states, which are treated as equals as co-signatories to the treaties, the UK certainly is not. Any progress was minimal, and much rests on an agreement to keep talking. So, if you like endless negotiations, then you could be in for a good few decades. Otherwise, maybe we should ask whether it was all even worth it and get on with the inevitable and rejoin. Time for a new song?
