Dr North.
I am wary of your statement "an orderly exit". I cannot conceive this happening without 100% agreement of the political incumbents.
Lovely in principle, but this is a "War" against a cancer that at can be defeated. It will be the insistent natives that achieve it against the desperation of those of the "I am alright Jack" brigade.

I can see it now.

Dave Cameron resigns in 2016 after guiding the Tories to a very unexpected victory ( )

Crack team of British negotiators assembled. A cross party team of Michael Portillo, Peter Mandelsohn and err Nick Clegg is assembled. These are the 'Three Musketeers', as the Daily Mail labels them, who will 'battle for Britain' against the jolly foreigners. Hurrah!

Edited by user 25 November 2012 15:27:11(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Richard, forgive my ignorance but I have three questions :
1. When have we ever been at the heart of Europe? The rest of the EU takes our money but I don't see any evidence that they modify anything they do because of what we say or ask.
2. Why would we want to become a member of the EEA; doesn't the EFTA still exist and if so, why wouldn't we just become a member of that organisation?
3. Failing that, why wouldn't we negotiate our exist via article 50 as you advise, and then restore our trade relations with our Commonwealth partners; assuming they aren't totally disillusioned with us because of how we have treated them in the past 50 or so years? I suppose I'm asking why would we initiate trade talks with the EU, they need us more than we need them so let them do the courting - call the bluff of the marxists.

Edited by user 25 November 2012 17:48:42(UTC)  | Reason: I can't count

John in Cheshire said:-

RAENorth said:-

Not sure things are that bleak. British supermarkets are high with NZ butter and meat, apparently the UK is New Zealand’s fifth-largest trading partner.
As for Australia, apart from luxury motors and technology that we sell to them, I suppose we still trade in wine, wheat and metal mining products. Australia is pretty full of resources and has a lot of agricultural land. These resources are mainly mined by Anglo-Australian multinationals, companies with their roots mainly in the UK but with most of their operations in Australia where the resources are - BHP Billington, Rio Tinto and etc.
As for India, with so much of UK companies becoming owned by TATA and suchlike, one could say we are an open market for India. I do understand that TATA is starting to source more automotive items from India for UK motor production. TATA has opened a massive market in China for Jaguars and Land Rovers, so much so that they are considering setting up production of said motors in China. I am not sure if that is quite the right idea. Will a gleaming Jaguar stamped 'made in China' still have the same cachet as 'Made in Coventry'. (just so long as they don't import them into UK.. )

As for Britain going alone in a lonely world, bring it on I say. We have some outstanding companies and businesses that are world class and world beating.
We also have practice at being alone in a lonely world.
No one is going to say, "Oh look, Britain has left the EU, best we keep away from there."

After a few years of sifting through and chopping the red tape and regulations we will be smokin'...

All we have to be afraid of is fear itself.

Farage always liked the "amicable divorce" idea. Well, it can only be amicable when both parties are taken care of, and that will not be the case with the big bang scenario. I am sure there are many areas such as the aviation authority where we no longer have the institution to run our skys. Are we going to re-implement one again in a day?

Stuart said:-

Well, we do have the massive Air Traffic Control Centre at Hamble. We ought to be able to handle our own airspace regardless of EU A.T.C. regulations, whether we will be allowed to is another matter.

Well, I have to suffer, and I do believe in sharing.

Why am I not surprised?

Perhaps "daddy" ... the "colleagues" are always talking of "Mother Europe". But you are right - the "divorce with kids" meme could be quite fruitful. We need to arrange visitation rights.

There is no end to this. I am supposed not to say this, but the words "rise up and shoot them" somehow keep bubbling to the surface. I cannot imagine why, or what their relevance to the current situation might be. I suspect, though, that with a little effort, I might see a link.