28/04/2014
This is
one to watch. Quitting the EU would pose "very significant risks" to Britain, says The City UK, the body which represents major UK-based banks and insurance firms.
This assertion is based on two reports which the organisation has yet to publish, although the
Lib-Dems seem to have seen them, and are evidently familiar with the content.
What the Lib Dems are saying is that exit scenarios from Europe risk damage to UK financial services through uncertainty, reduced market access and loss of influence. Attempts to carve out exemptions for the UK could lead to carve outs in other areas by other member states, fragmenting the Internal Market.
They also say that access to the EU's Internal Market in financial services for non EU-member states would not be guaranteed if the UK became a member of the EEA and EFTA. In order to obtain Internal Market access, the UK would have to implement all of the relevant EU legislation, having given up its say in formulating it.
I'm not sure exactly what that means, so we're going to have to wait for the reports to see what they say, which makes this something of a holding post. What one finds, however, is that the City wonks seem remarkably, or wilfully ignorant of how the EU works, and the make-up of the regulatory system.
This is also apparent in
Bootle's bumph, another of those economists who has remarkably little understanding of the nature of the EU and how it works.
Together, it would seem, Bootle and The City UK, are going to make for an interesting week. We will have to see where it takes us.
FORUM THREAD
