Friday, March 31, 2023
Can we have a referendum please, Rishi?
The Independent reports that the UK will become the first European nation to join an Indo-Pacific trade pact in a deal Rishi Sunak has hailed as putting the UK in a “prime position” globally.
The paper says that the deal, which would see the UK join countries including Malaysia, Japan and Australia, would “boost the UK economy by £1.8bn in the long run”, a figure dwarfed by the long term cost of Brexit.
The unanswered question however is why the British public has not been given a say in this decision. After all we had a referendum to both join and to leave the European single market, why is this different? No doubt there will be regulations we will have to agree to in order to trade within this bloc, how is that different to the regulations we signed up to when we were in the EU?
Ministers need to provide answers on vital issues, including on consumer safety, food safety, data protection, and environmental protections. And we need a referendum.
The paper says that the deal, which would see the UK join countries including Malaysia, Japan and Australia, would “boost the UK economy by £1.8bn in the long run”, a figure dwarfed by the long term cost of Brexit.
The unanswered question however is why the British public has not been given a say in this decision. After all we had a referendum to both join and to leave the European single market, why is this different? No doubt there will be regulations we will have to agree to in order to trade within this bloc, how is that different to the regulations we signed up to when we were in the EU?
Ministers need to provide answers on vital issues, including on consumer safety, food safety, data protection, and environmental protections. And we need a referendum.
