@mrjamesob @LBC When discussing Reeves's Budget, perhaps worth mentioning the big £40bn pa elephant in the room.
(An ongoing 'black hole' due to Lab's hard Brexit red lines.)
teapaw.org/andrewhesselden/status…
Brexit the Elephant has an important job to do today even if no one can see him.
He’s helping Rachel Reeves find enough pennies to fill a £40 billion hole.
“Oops”, he says. “How did that hole appear?”
#Budget2024 #BrexitTheElephant
#BrexitDisaster #SingleMarket
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@mrjamesob @LBC Re "Prominent Brexiters promising to remain in the Single Market" - over to Mr "let's be like Norway!" himself.
Many who voted to leave the EU *but remain in the EEA/SM* would've been persuaded by him. He didn't stop talking about the 'Norway model' for months.
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@mrjamesob @LBC The only way to undo the damage & "make Brexit work" is to ditch the (self-imposed) 'red lines' & rejoin SM/EEA.
Anything that falls short of that is simply pandering to an ever-dwindling cohort of diehards - at the expense of the country.
The red lines must go.
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@mrjamesob @LBC The only way to properly 'reset' the EU-UK relationship is to rejoin the SM/EEA (at min). Only that will eliminate the NTBs now throttling trade & travel.
Anything short of that is political posturing & pandering to the (unworkable) 'make Brexit work' nonsense.
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@mrjamesob @LBC "If he refuses to acknowledge the massive elephant in the room creating a £40bn 'black hole' in govt finances, I'll be after him like a rat up a drainpipe" #Brexit
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@LBC @carolvorders Addressing the huge Brexit elephant would boost the Exchequer by £40-50bn a year. 'GTTO' was delivered - time for the pre-GE caution around the 'B' word (& subsequent red lines on FoM & Single market) to end.
teapaw.org/RichardGCorbett/status…
The #Exchequergate scandal:
The £50bn of tax revenue lost to the Exchequer EVERY YEAR because of Brexit
Enough to:
-scrap the 2 child cap
-give junior doctors (& all public sector workers) the pay rise they deserve
-finance GreenDeal
-repair crumbling schools
- and much more
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@mrjamesob @LBC This may be of interest. The future of housebuilding may look like this... youtube.com/watch?v=wP3VcQ6z…
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@mrjamesob @LBC A pity that "not giving your enemy any weapons" included ruling out the Single Market. A situation where 'less is more' was the way to go.
Lab have boxed themselves in for nothing - redolent of May's blunder in ruling out the SM ahead of the Brexit negotiations.
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@LBC @ShelaghFogarty Forget CU only solutions - that's for full EU members. The EU *is* a CU.
Focus on SM/EEA (from o/s EU) for now. That will eliminate NTBs throttling trade & travel + restore valued rights & freedoms taken from millions who didn't vote for this mess.
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@LBC @ShelaghFogarty Post-Brexit, the main obstacles to trade & travel are non-tariff in nature (NTBs). The only way to eliminate those barriers is to rejoin the EEA & SM (from outside the EU for now). Mere 'alignment' won't remove NTBs.
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@mrjamesob @LBC All Labour had to do was simply rule out rejoining the EU. Going beyond that to explicitly rule out the SM (which nobody voted to leave in 2016) was completely unnecessary.
SM/EEA (from outside the EU) is still Brexit, & entirely compatible with the 2016 result.
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@mrjamesob @LBC As a result of the Brexit omertà, many people aren't even aware of how much (ongoing) damage it's caused them (and the country).
That blinkered view certainly isn't helped by Labour's "Make Brexit Work" mantra.
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@mrjamesob @LBC "What does he gain?"
He could "gain" economic growth whilst still "respecting" Brexit.
Leaving the SM & EEA (rather than the EU) is what's inflicted most of the damage. Hence why Labour's (totally unnecessary) explicit ruling out the SM is unforgivable.
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@LBC @mrjamesob Labour had no need whatsoever to explicitly rule out the SM. None. Ppl defending it are apologists (and they know it).
EEA/SM is *still* Brexit.
As for "revisiting" Brexit - there won't be any significant changes to the TCA. It's all party politics & optics.
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@mrjamesob @LBC There was no need whatsoever for Starmer to explicitly rule out the SM and FOM in the manifesto. Simply ruling out returning to the EU would've been adequate. SM/EEA is STILL Brexit.
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@mrjamesob @LBC Why not (accidentally on purpose) pop into the studio tomorrow morning while Nick's on-air. I'm sure Farage would be delighted to have another little tête-à-tête (especially since the last one was so rudely cut short by his advisors)
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