Reply to post: Re: How can you have a bad deal worse than no deal?

Re: How can you have a bad deal worse than no deal?

We could be stuck in the customs union - which would stop us making our own trade arrangements.

Wow! It may have escaped your notice but whilst being a member of the EU and subject to the customs union, the UK has significantly increased it's non-EU exports. So the benefit of being able to make our own trade arrangements is what exactly - more jobs in Whitehall?

We could be stuck in the common market - which would stop us creating our own standards or adopting those from outside the EU.

We and the EU already adopt many standards from outside the EU, just taking IT: IEEE, IETF, 3gPP Win32 etc.. Additionally, the UK has contributed to many standards: IEEE, 3gPP, etc.

So, staying focused on IT, what IT standards should the UK be creating that won't need international acceptance and that the UK is unable to create today?

It rather depends on your view of the EU as to which side the cost/benefit sits on those things.

I agree much does depend upon your view of the EU, however also things also depend on your view of European co-operation and collaboration and whether the EU is going in the right direction and thus being on-board and being able to influence it's future direction is better than sitting at the side of the road waiting for a ride...