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Regional secretary with the National Education Union
We need a People’s Brexit, not a bogus Brexit
There is no evidence that staying in the EU single market and customs union will assist in remedying the structural deficiencies of our economy, argues ROBERT GRIFFITHS

WHAT does Brexit mean for jobs and the economy in Britain?

During the EU referendum campaign, a barrage of reports, open letters, forecasts and announcements warned that a Leave vote would bring about an immediate recession. GDP would fall, the pound would collapse, unemployment would rise and by 2030 the average household in Britain would be £4,300 worse off.

Tim Shipman shows in his blockbusting book, All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain’s Political Class, how this offensive was carefully orchestrated. 

  • Allowing the British, Scottish and Welsh governments to organise financial assistance and investment for industry and infrastructure, free from EU treaty bans. There would be no EU restrictions on the Scottish Futures Trust programme or Labour’s “people’s quantitative easing” policies.
  • Ending EU corporate establishment rights and the free movement of capital, so that governments can once again direct capital and promote regional policies that reduce economic and social inequalities.
  • Using public ownership to integrate energy and transport systems, with emphasis on green and sustainable development.
  • Seeking a low or no-tariff EU trade deal in specific sectors, while British governments are free to negotiate agreements with the world’s emerging and most dynamic economies (whose share of Britain’s trade and investment increases as the EU share shrinks).
  • Allowing public authorities to promote local employment and investment, workers’ rights and social equality, free from EU competitive tendering rules.
  • Reintroducing policies to support farming and fishing communities, rather than undercompensating them for the negative impact of market forces. 
  • Repatriating extensive powers to democratic legislatures in London, Edinburgh and Cardiff as we move towards a federal Britain. The Scottish and Welsh nationalist parties would prefer to leave those powers in Brussels.
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