Post by South Stand Ultra on Feb 16, 2019 22:34:31 GMT
There is nothing to fear from leaving the EU and trading with them under WTO rules
The List is a grassroots organisation of Leave voters which I founded over a year ago, to represent the voice of the electorate. We are not affiliated to any political party or organisation, but are very active as we continue to campaign for the voice of Leave voters to be heard and are advocating leaving the EU under WTO rules.
Members come from different political persuasions but are united in ensuring respect for the democratic result of the 2016 referendum.
We firmly believe in leaving the EU in its entirety and also believe that our sovereignty and powers were given away illegally and unconstitutionally. The List has also found that most of our members extensively researched the issues and knew the applicable treaties, as well as WTO principles, prior to voting in the referendum – and even after all the Project Fear, we still decided to vote Leave.
In view of the current circumstances surrounding Brexit, The List believes that Brexiteers are even more motivated today compared to how they were in the referendum.
In March last year, we put together a petition to Theresa May stating the reason why we believed most of the 17.4 million voted Leave, and delivered it direct to her at No. 10 with over 1.2 million signatures.
Now we have decided to write an Open Letter to Parliament which you can view here on our new website.
We are asking people to sign the letter online, and to take a copy of it and send in an email to their local MP with a link to the website where they can view people’s comments.
This Open Letter demands that we leave the European Union and not be tied to any trade deal.
These are two separate issues and should not be combined. By not agreeing to a ‘no deal’ or
trading under WTO rules, those elected MPs are stipulating that they will not support 17.4 million people who voted Leave; the highest vote for anything in British electoral history.
The Open Letter has recently gone live and continues to receive new signatures daily.
We are hoping to reach as many of the 17.4 million as possible, and are therefore asking Leave voters and those that voted Remain but support the result, to leave their name on the website and pass the link on.
So what is there to fear from trading under WTO rules, even for an interim period? The answer is, nothing. The WTO, established in 1995, (preceded by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, established in 1947) is an international organisation aiming to reduce all barriers to trade.
The combined share of international trade of WTO members now exceeds 90% of the global trade.
Most countries around the world are members, including the UK and the EU. In 2016, UK world-wide trade accounted for 52% of goods exported (48% exported to the EU, which continues to decline, and 52% to the rest of the world).
As EU members, our trade with various countries outside the EU has been dictated largely by agreements with the EU, and devised to suit them. Under WTO rules, we will be free to make our own trade arrangements with those countries, tailored more to our needs.
The WTO requires member countries to apply tariffs (taxes) on goods and services to other WTO countries equally. Unlike the EU, the WTO does not tell countries what to do other than to keep their promises.
There is no ‘confrontation with WTO officials’ as one Irish Government source reportedly claimed in a newspaper report in respect of arrangements concerning the Irish border.
The WTO is a member-driven organisation and there is no WTO rule requiring governments to secure their borders. There are, however, non-discrimination rules, but a ‘waiver’ could be sought for the UK/Ireland border either based on national security, or if the EU are in agreement, the UK and Ireland could act in the interests of the Good Friday Agreement and permit no hard border between the two.
These are just some suggestions which Remain-backing MPs seem to refuse to discuss. Under WTO rules, the UK will not only be able to negotiate our own trade agreements with the world, control our borders and make our own laws, but with no more annual payments to subsidise the EU and our armed forces free of the EU command structures to boot, we will be free to paint our own future on a clean canvas.
If there are problems along the way, then we will deal with them, as we have always done, with a pragmatic and flexible attitude – for you cannot put a price on freedom.
The List believes that we, the electorate who voted Leave, should have our voices heard; about what Brexit means to us and why we voted Leave.
We have all heard about “the People’s Vote” so it’s time we were heard, the other side of the story, “the People’s Voice!”