£1.7 billion = £850 million - a victory?

Hobbit

Hobbit

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So Britain's EU bill has been halved, the Dec 1st deadline withdrawn and no interest payments. Is it really a victory for for Britain, or a penalty for the Coalition imposing an Austerity plan that has seen our economy improve quicker than the rest of the EU member countries?

Currently we pay over £17 billion into the EU, and receive various subsidies that see us with a nett contribution of over £8 billion. And with the additional payment, the UK will be paying in £10 billion a year. We run a trading deficit with the other EU countries...

It may be a simple man's opinion but I'd say they need us way more than we need them. But if we did pull out of the EU would companies like Nissan and Toyota leave the UK - we give them back door access into the EU?
 
Hobbit said:
So Britain's EU bill has been halved, the Dec 1st deadline withdrawn and no interest payments. Is it really a victory for for Britain, or a penalty for the Coalition imposing an Austerity plan that has seen our economy improve quicker than the rest of the EU member countries?

Currently we pay over £17 billion into the EU, and receive various subsidies that see us with a nett contribution of over £8 billion. And with the additional payment, the UK will be paying in £10 billion a year. We run a trading deficit with the other EU countries...

It may be a simple man's opinion but I'd say they need us way more than we need them. But if we did pull out of the EU would companies like Nissan and Toyota leave the UK - we give them back door access into the EU?
Click to expand...

Im struggling to think of one good reason why we stay in.
As I understand it we entered the Common market and we ended up in the European Union governed by unelected federalists and suffering under EU immigration, fisheries, agriculture and legal policies which are totally out of kilter with the UK. We need a referendum and soon! Cameron needs to grow some real balls and let the Country decide
 
Why didn't Nissan, Toyota, Honda etc build their car plants in other European countries?

The Euro is a failed project, the EU economy is shrinking, more poor countries are set to join the club whereby they will be net takers and their people will look to take advantage of countries like Britain. We need to either create a new deal or get out asap.
 
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Hobbit said:
So Britain's EU bill has been halved, the Dec 1st deadline withdrawn and no interest payments. Is it really a victory for for Britain, or a penalty for the Coalition imposing an Austerity plan that has seen our economy improve quicker than the rest of the EU member countries?

Currently we pay over £17 billion into the EU, and receive various subsidies that see us with a nett contribution of over £8 billion. And with the additional payment, the UK will be paying in £10 billion a year. We run a trading deficit with the other EU countries...

It may be a simple man's opinion but I'd say they need us way more than we need them. But if we did pull out of the EU would companies like Nissan and Toyota leave the UK - we give them back door access into the EU?
Click to expand...

Well somebody has to keep the Euro MP's and bureaucrats in gravy! :)
 
Foxholer said:
Because the UK (and the UK Government) offered/'sold' them a 'better deal' than the other European countries did!
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If you knew anything about the motor industry you would realise that is not strictly true.

Due to the constriction of our home owned industry we had a huge number of skilled middle and upper management available together with R&D skills and established supply chain of component suppliers.

Obviously deals were done but they would have not meant zip without the above.
 
MetalMickie said:
If you knew anything about the motor industry you would realise that is not strictly true.

Due to the constriction of our home owned industry we had a huge number of skilled middle and upper management available together with R&D skills and established supply chain of component suppliers.

Obviously deals were done but they would have not meant zip without the above.
Click to expand...

That was almost certainly part of the 'selling' exercise, certainly the Nissan one in Sunderland. To offer much more would actually be likely to break EU competition laws!

Toyota actually have manufacturing plants elsewhere in Europe. Nissan may well have been spreading their risk too - Renault own a sizeable chunk of them - though their insistence on a 'one union' policy may not have been acceptable elsewhere! Honda UK, who I worked for for a while (putting a cap on when standing up became 2nd nature) but not as long as I worked for BMW, grew from a joint venture rather than a greenfield development.
 
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By all accounts the 1.7 billion has not been halved, apparently we were owed 700 and odd million in a rebate and that has been taken off the 1.7 billion.

in effect we will not get the rebate but pay the remainder of 1.7 billion. Once more it seems to me that someone has had our pants down.
 
Tashyboy said:
By all accounts the 1.7 billion has not been halved, apparently we were owed 700 and odd million in a rebate and that has been taken off the 1.7 billion.

in effect we will not get the rebate but pay the remainder of 1.7 billion. Once more it seems to me that someone has had our pants down.
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That always looked pretty the likely scenario - Osborne was very vague about the mechanics of the deal!

Though from what I understand from the sparse details, there is actually a 'saving'! The rules on when the UK Rebate have been tweaked so that it's paid in the year it's due rather than a year in arrears - effectively immediately-ish. That would seem to account for the 'reduction'!

If that's the case, then Ball (and Farage) is/are also correct - as are other European spokesfolk - and there has been no change to the amount payable!

And payment deferred until after the election - making this years numbers look better than they perhaps should!

Ah! The wonders of Politics!
 
Foxholer said:
Because the UK (and the UK Government) offered/'sold' them a 'better deal' than the other European countries did!
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My experience of setting up business with large Japanese companies is that they put a great deal of emphases on trust and commitment. It's almost impossible to get business by bribes or sweeteners.
 
SocketRocket said:
My experience of setting up business with large Japanese companies is that they put a great deal of emphases on trust and commitment. It's almost impossible to get business by bribes or sweeteners.
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I also believe that's the case, But that's a million miles away from the point I was making (and it's a bit scary that you even imagined it was!)! A 'better deal' doesn't need to involve 'bribes and sweeteners'! Though it depends on what is meant by 'sweeteners'. There are plenty of legitimate and open ways a deal can be 'sweetened', just as one can for a car purchase!
 
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Foxholer said:
I also believe that's the case, But that's a million miles away from the point I was making (and it's a bit scary that you even imagined it was!)! A 'better deal' doesn't need to involve 'bribes and sweeteners'! Though it depends on what is meant by 'sweeteners'. There are plenty of legitimate and open ways a deal can be 'sweetened', just as one can for a car purchase!
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Dont be scared, it's only a Golf Forum Ted! Woops! I mean Foxy.
 
MarkA said:
Im struggling to think of one good reason why we stay in.
As I understand it we entered the Common market and we ended up in the European Union governed by unelected federalists and suffering under EU immigration, fisheries, agriculture and legal policies which are totally out of kilter with the UK. We need a referendum and soon! Cameron needs to grow some real balls and let the Country decide
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Are you aware of the benefits of UK being in the EU? Difficult to find any good reasons if you aren't aware of benefits or the impact of us not being in it.
 
SocketRocket said:
Dont be scared, it's only a Golf Forum Ted! Woops! I mean Foxy.
Click to expand...

I'm not scared. But the scary bit is that someone would contemplate offering 'bribes and sweeteners', either (not) to Japanese companies or from virtually any other country for that matter. BAE certainly got burnt fingers (and hands and arms apparently) doing business that way!As for the rest.. :confused: Too many brandies after lunch! :rolleyes:
 
It was odd how the motor industry was mentioned re sweeteners, because an hour after I read that on here yesterday, I then Read that Nissan said they would be a bit narked if the uk pulled out of Europe and would have to question it's commitment to Britain.
 
Tashyboy said:
It was odd how the motor industry was mentioned re sweeteners, because an hour after I read that on here yesterday, I then Read that Nissan said they would be a bit narked if the uk pulled out of Europe and would have to question it's commitment to Britain.
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That's not about 'sweeteners' as I understand them. That (UK being in Europe) would have been part of the consideration (as in thoughts, rather than tangibles) that Nissan et al would have gone through as part of their decision to locate in UK. Should that, or any other major consideration, change, then it would be logical for them to review their strategy! Depending on their corporate structure, they'd have to publish identified business risks, such as UK leaving Europe, in their A/R in the same way - and probably with more dramatic reaction - as Scottish based companies did about the Scottish Referendum!
 
Hobbit said:
So Britain's EU bill has been halved, the Dec 1st deadline withdrawn and no interest payments. Is it really a victory for for Britain, or a penalty for the Coalition imposing an Austerity plan that has seen our economy improve quicker than the rest of the EU member countries?

Currently we pay over £17 billion into the EU, and receive various subsidies that see us with a nett contribution of over £8 billion. And with the additional payment, the UK will be paying in £10 billion a year. We run a trading deficit with the other EU countries...

It may be a simple man's opinion but I'd say they need us way more than we need them. But if we did pull out of the EU would companies like Nissan and Toyota leave the UK - we give them back door access into the EU?
Click to expand...

Could someone explain to me exactly what benefits we as a country receive from out multi billion 'donation' each and every year ?
 
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