A plea to all Remainers!

[GardenBirdie]

We need to revive this petition, and quickly. It will be debated, in the spotlight, by MPs on September 5 and it's our best chance - through massive numbers, even if the debate is technically a formality - to show that those of us who wanted to remain in Europe are still here, and must be heard. Since the referendum, we've been all but ignored. Please, please, share this as widely as possible. ‪#18MillionNames - The new guard need to know we have to be listened to; We CAN make a difference. ow.ly/Ya7M302csoi

peteneras, you seem to be mistaking PR for actuality, in posting that Express link.

The EU represents a total of 16% of world GDP. The U.K. is around 2.3%. So, even if we take out the UK, we get to about 13.5% or so.

How can the UK trade with a bloc 10 times that big, which would represent 135% of world GDP?

SanityClause, you are reading too much into the Express link - it only talked of Britain’s post Brexit possible trading zone being ten times larger than the EU and not ten times the EU’s GDP.

GDP-wise, the USA and China together itself will make up more than twice the GDP of the EU. This is not to mention the GDP’s of Japan, India, Canada, Brazil, Australia and the rest of the world that Britain can now trade with.

To be fair I have never wanted a conservative government..If you think any politician doesn't lie to get what they want you are deluded.

peteneras, by zone, do you mean land mass? Or number of countries? Or number of people?

It's all a bit vague, isn't it? As I said - PR not actuality.

And the U.K. Does trade with China, India, Japan, Canada, Brazil, Australia, and the rest of the world, already. We're not barred from any of that by membership of the EU.

It probably means all those SanityClause.

Only through the EU that the UK trades with all those countries you mentioned. Our hands are tied if we want to do anything else besides. That's why we are breaking out and not a moment too soon.

Well, it's not number of countries. There are 27 countries in the EU, not
including the UK. Ten times that is 270. There are 206 countries in the world, so 205 countries the UK could potentially trade with. Not 270.

Certainly, there are more than 10 times the number of people world than in the UK. You can have that one. I'm not sure about land mass. But will we be counting Antarctica in our calculations? What about other areas like the Sahara which are pretty much not populated?

My point is that "ten times" is a meaningless statement. It's a grand statement, I'll grant you. Just like "take back control" is a grand, but ultimately meaningless statement.

If I offered you a pile of sweet containing 27 chocolate bars, and said you could swap it for, say, 270 other sweets, but those could perhaps be mini smarties. Which would be the better deal? There might be ten times as many sweets in the 270, but probably more worth in the 27 chocolate bars.

What sort of chocolate?

We voted to leave so leave we shall. The new PM has been adamant that the vote shall not be ignored and good for her.

Well, that's true, roar.

But it still seems people are being sucked in by meaningless statements.

A "trading bloc ten times the size of the EU"
is a meaningless statement. Such a trading bloc could not exist, even if you wanted it to.

I have signed 15 times under different names - shall I continue?
Switzerland are blocking free movement next year, following a referendum in that country.
Company law does not require 50 or 75% of shareholder votes, just that many of those that vote.

Kate The swiss vote was legally binding and must be in place by Feb17. A new referendum must be agreed by all Swiss Cantons, an unlikely scenario.

I am a remainer but like May I accept we must leave the EU as (narrowly) the vote went that way. The difficult point has always been what sort of departure. It seems May will not go for remaining in the EEA and I can see why. So that leaves individual negotiated deals (but not a Norway or Swiss deal as UK people seem not to want free movement of people and retiring to Spain and having cheap good plumbers from Poland).

So we will pay tariffs when goods are imported and that's fine. People buy too much and are too consumeristic and wrongly think consumer goods (and indeed money) makes them happy. If goods are too expensive that's not too big a deal. We can live with that.