European Union Vote

[SteveH]

The news doesn't really get any better, either...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/08/05/brit_scientist_exclusion_from_eu_funding/

I have read recently, exactly the same situation with our universities, being dropped from EU funded research projects.

This is the article I mentioned above, had it bookmarked and forgot all about it. 
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jul/12/uk-scientists-dropped-from-eu-projects-because-of-post-brexit-funding-fears

[DaveR]

From the BBC News just now.

Drivers could face higher petrol and diesel prices as a result of the vote to leave the EU, retailers suggest.
Brian Madderson, chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association, said that a rise of 2p-3p a litre was on the cards.
He said the plunge in the value of the pound against the dollar would have an immediate impact, as wholesale fuel prices are quoted in dollars.
The rises were likely to be implemented on forecourts next week, he said.

So, nice work everybody!
That simply pushes more cost into the supply chain too, higher prices for everything on the way!

I think you were taken in by Project FEAR...

The reality is that petrol prices have fallen since the Brexit vote:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-3718385/Asda-Tesco-Sainsbury-s-Morrisons-cut-petrol-diesel-prices.html

[Ian]

That's made quite a splash, doubtless as Asda intended :-) But there are many other factors at work, as you know, Dave. This time of the year always sees a glut of fuel, since many factories and businesses are only now starting to return to full operation while the schools are yet to open, so the school run - which sees a 12-fold increase in traffic during the morning and afternoons on roads locally - hasn't yet started and, of course, the weather's been sufficiently warm not to require the heating on all day, so I'd have been extremely surprised,  even astonished, had petrol prices risen during the July - August period. 

Given a colder November, however, I can see a significant rise coming.

[SteveH]

Immigration: May rejects points-based system for EU nationals.

Although Mrs May supported remaining in the EU, she has said that the Brexit vote must be respected and suggested that curbs on the current free movement of EU citizens into the UK would be a red line in future negotiations with the EU.
But speaking to journalists in China she dismissed Vote Leave's proposal of an Australian-style points system for deciding the number of skilled and unskilled workers who could come into the UK every year from the EU and beyond - with numbers to be determined by MPs.
Rather than giving the government control, such a system would allow anybody into the UK if they met the criteria, she said, adding that curbs on student visas had been a more effective measure to reduce immigration.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37271420

[Fester]

But surely that's nonsense.
If you set the criteria of the points system high enough, you only get the number and quality of people you want to enter?
The points system could be revised after a certain number was reached?

[Ian]

I may be wrong, but I suspect she's thinking of different criteria...not ones that can easily be assessed by points.

[SteveH]

Brexit: The phoney war.

Returning to the UK from North America is to encounter an air of unreality. Britain has embarked on the biggest constitutional change in nearly 50 years - but you wouldn't guess it.
Informed but incredulous Americans ask "you really had no plan?"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-uk-leaves-the-eu-37278222

[Bosun]

Brexit: The phoney war.

Returning to the UK from North America is to encounter an air of unreality. Britain has embarked on the biggest constitutional change in nearly 50 years - but you wouldn't guess it.
Informed but incredulous Americans ask "you really had no plan?"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-uk-leaves-the-eu-37278222

Somewhat like thier plans for leaving Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. ....

[SteveH]

Council tax rises, deeper spending cuts and Wales worse off by £500m A YEAR - think-tank's Welsh Brexit warning.

Wales could lose £500m a year after Brexit – and ministers will face even tougher choices about what to spend their dwindling budget on, a new report has warned.

Research by The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the Welsh Government’s pot could be cut by 3.2% in real terms over the next three years - given forecasts set out in the UK Government’s March 2016 budget.

And the study predicts the largest cuts will come in 2018-19 and 2019 - with local government especially facing a particularly tough time.

Among the IFS’s key findings include: increases to the NHS budget of 2% a year, while protecting funding for councils’ education and social services responsibilities, would lead to “unprotected” areas facing cuts averaging 18% over the next three years.

Full article with many comments below.....http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/council-tax-rises-deeper-spending-11883241

[Ian]

Some might find this rather good:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXVVCT4Jcs8

[Bosun]

This is interesting......

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/nov/02/prevent-brexit-or-face-political-fallout-german-economists-warn-eu

Do I detect panic setting in?

[SteveH]

First Minister Carwyn Jones says Wales needs "full and unfettered access" to the European single market, as he flies to Norway to learn more about its relationship with the EU.
The three-day visit comes as UK ministers prepare the way for Brexit negotiations.
Although not an EU member, Norway pays into the EU budget in return for full access to the European single market.

Failure to maintain full access, free of tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade post-Brexit could make sustaining and securing investment more difficult."
In November, the first minister told AMs that maintaining access to Europe's single market without extra costs was a more important issue than immigration.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-38496904

[DaveR]

Interesting how the Bank of England has admitted that its dire forecasts for the economy in the event of a brexit vote were...completely wrong.

"The bank has come under intense criticism for predicting a dramatic slowdown in the UK’s fortunes in the event of a vote for Brexit only for the economy to bounce back strongly and remain one of the best performing in the developed world."

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/05/chief-economist-of-bank-of-england-admits-errors

[Ian]

Yessss... Haldane doesn't have a wonderful track record, having completely missed the 2008 crash, so one should automatically question his sudden 'Damascean conversion' where he's now convinced it wasn't his fault, but rather the banks' for not acting predictably, schools for not teaching sums very well and the entire field of Economics for not having adequate models. 

His outstanding comment for me was when he said "...out of that something good spread. It brought us [John Maynard] Keynes and the birth of modern macro-economics.".  There's no one in the world who understands international macro-economics and as for Keynes, it was his policies on which Thatcher relied heavily when essentially eviscerating communities North of Watford.

And yes; the economy as a whole in the UK appears to be doing well, but I wonder how much of that is because we have the core of the world's banking system here?

[SDQ]

Erm... we haven't left yet! Maybe everyone is getting a lot of business done before we do?
The only way we'll know for sure is a year or two AFTER we have left.
I suspect the economy could be in a very different place then.