OK, OP. I am pretty eurosceptic. There are aspects of the EU that worry me, particularly around governance, loss of sovereignty in specific legislative areas and over-enmeshment of the economies of countries within the single currancy.
However, after some pretty extensive reading and research I came to the clear conclusion that IMO remaining was the best choice for the UK, by a considerable margin. So I voted remain. I am genuinely interested in what (in terms of actual facts rather than a “belief”) could bring someone to the opposite conclusion - would you be able to enlighten me there?
Ignoring the rhetoric around it, Brexit is going to cause some major trade issues. Focussing purely on trade (ignoring for the moment the major concerns about security, borders, FMP etc):
The EU is a major trading partner so to trade with the EU the UK will need to comply with the vast majority of the same standards. We are a small country wanting to trade with a larger “bloc” so we’ll need to comply with the standards they set (for their own products - I’m not suggesting we’d be held to a different standard). Standards which we won’t be able to help shape or set any more. That doesn’t make good business sense at all. Plus, potentially, tariffs. Why should they trade tariff free with us? Either we will end up paying in to the EU (without a say/rebate/seat at the table) or we will end up with negotiated tariffs. Both poor options.
You’ll say “but we’ll be fine trading on WTO rules. We can trade elsewhere.” The problem is though OP, comparisons with WTO rule trading are not that helpful as we don’t actually have our own schedule. We use the EU one (which is pretty good). The majority of WTO rule economic models are based on our continuing to use that schedule, which we do not have an automatic right to do. Negotiating our own schedule is likely to result in a far less favourable regime (see above re small country/limited clout).
Or is there an excellent option that I have missed?