Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Hi
For the last week I've been heavily researching WTO terms for business services. Anyway, I managed to get someone from the WTO on the phone today and they said that any UK business that trades with the EU but doesn't import or export an actual good will not have to pay a levy and VAT will still be charged at 0%
I asked (out of interest) if this also applied to airlines and they said yes (but they have to pay landing taxes - which has always been the case)
Thats cheered me up!
It wasn't just BJ that conned the public, it was the whole of the leave campaign and sadly 52% of the population got sold!
I only actually know one leave voter (my Dad). It seems many of his generation voted due to immigration but not realising why a majority of fishermen, fruit pickers etc etc were not British (simply speaking, many Brits don't want jobs that involve hard work for a low rate of pay so the only solution was employing those willing to work the work from the EU).
I wonder if the UK have every reminded the French/ Belgians/ Dutch/ Italians etc etc that if it wasnt for the UK, the whole of Europe would be controlled by Germany
News flash - I suppose it already is (chuckle)
Back to reality, as a remainer, i really do struggle to understand why BJ & Co feel its possible to leave the EU whilst continuing to benefit from free trade and free movement .
From what I’m hearing, there will be a vote on Monday in the commons (not sure why it’s not before they break up!)
The EU parliament will vote the same day or Tuesday
It’s all very well but until it’s published and the votes approved, I’ll remain sceptical
I’m more bothered about my staff and my business but a nice tick up with IAG would also be very very nice. I’ve hardly slept for a week!
I'd love a deal (regardless of conditions on fishing)
However, I cant see it. BJ is under immense pressure to deliver without compromise and I cant see the EU being flexible on the 3 sticking points (they might be on 2 but that will cause a backlash by our fishing industry)
Its a lose lose for the fishing industry imo, gain control of our waters and the EU will make selling to the EU very difficult. Lose control to the waters and they see no gain for Brexit
Personally, I don't see any benefits of Brexit but appreciate some do
I'm flying very frequently throughout the pandemic and I'm finding load factors at almost 100% on routes where there are no restrictions (look at the prices to fly to Dubai/ Barbados/ Mexico currently!)
On routes where there are restrictions/ quarantine, it's the opposite. I had a recent flight to Italy and it was only 10-15% full.
This tells me the demand is clearly there, they just need the restrictions to disappear!
Personally, I think its a dent for sure but remember 50% of IAG is not UK based so that helps the situation.
The EU will make a stand in Q1 to limit EU travel from the UK, they will use Covid as the reason. Like I said yesterday, after this, there will be a lot of pressure from the nations that rely on tourism to allow free movement, my prediction is that this will fall in line with non restrictive travel to the US (March/ April).
Trading places - I’m more than aware of the BA flights between the US and Europe.
Have you tried getting a special pass with the US embassy? It’s an absolute nightmare and very very few people get granted one. The load factor on those flights are really really low but compensated by additional cargo to make them semi worthwhile.
Most British/ US business people are opting to stay in the Caribbean (if possible) to allow travel between the two nations
The US load factors are calculated in the SP and things will only get better next year.
My pure issue is this Brexit mess, I understand it’s a game being played to see who cracks (the EU statement on fishing this morning actually made me laugh). I can just see some major pain for a short period whilst they battle through the negotiations.
I have to travel every week for work and as it stands, I have no idea how I’ll travel come the first week of January as no details have been released on special visas for business (just like the US have made it very grey on what business travel they want.) I’m expecting to have to travel to London to visit the various EU embassy’s
I’m not doubting that flights will remain, both sides will want this.
My issue is the covid travel restrictions, basically the EU have a blanket rule that no country outside the US (bar 8 countries) are permitted to travel to the European block. They will add the UK to this list so it rules out all travel (like we have with the US currently).
I will 100% be back in, just protecting my pennies
Ive just sold out. I love IAG and I will be back but Brexit is causing me so many worries. I'll let the dust settle and hopefully jump back in soon (i'm not a jumper and held all my shares since March).
This freaked me out: (from the BBC)
Separately, the European Commission has confirmed reports that a ban on travel to the EU because of Covid-19 levels, applied to non-EU countries, will be extended to UK visitors from 1 January.
Currently only eight countries with low Covid rates are on the approved list for free travel and there are no plans to add the UK to that list.
Uptheladder - I agree. This negotiation was a lose lose from the outset.
Just like I’m sure Deanmc feels about the Scottish referendum, it would be very interesting to see what the outcome would be if they re ran the Brexit referendum again now! I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be close!
Scotland made very marginal profit per head as an average over the past 30/40 years but much of this was during the boom years of the 80’s when the North Sea did very well.
The UK funded the investment for the North Sea and the SNP fail to acknowledge national debt payments in their calculations of profit per head/ capita/ gdp
I would love Scotland to become independent (if that’s what the people of Scotland want) but the Scots didn’t want it. Oil will be not be worth drilling in the North Sea in the next 20 years, tourism - I’m not doubting you have a tourism market but how many people does it employ? Scotland do have several strong export products but a long way to go in my opinion
If Scotland really want another referendum, the UK government should grant it immediately