Why **couldn't** the UK leave the EU?

snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I'm a British voter. I would like EU membership to be open to Turkey provided it meets the relevant criteria. At the moment it doesn't AIUI

You've lost me there. I've no idea what "note" it is I'm supposed to have removed. Never mind anyway, I'm bored with this now.

Just like in the UK.

Slavery happens in the UK too.

In message , Mark writes

It's handy to have a few illegal immigrants who are desperate enough to work for less than the minimum wage. Perhaps that's why governments don't try too hard to stop it.

Groups of foreign nationals have been cockle-picking off the Lancashire coast, without a clue as to the danger. The lifeboat service has made 15 rescues since early September, and the latest group were only saved when a fisherman reported seeing them drifting out to sea as darkness approached.

The engine had failed on their boat, which they had bought on e-Bay (no kidding).

No they couldn't. There are Worldwide agreements stopping that

tim

But they could just decide not to buy from the UK. People are like that.

The EU exports more to us than we import from them. They wouldn't want to risk losing their exports by refusing to import from us.

Exactly!

Why would they?

If by "they" you mean individual consumers or companies, why would they want to suddenly stop using products they had been perfectly happy with before? Those people have no political axe to grind.

Chris

But some would have an axe to grind. How many is difficult to say, but as an example the attempted boycott of Scotch by Americans angry about the release of the individual found guilty of the Lockerbie bombing presumably had some impact.

There would perhaps be more effect on new than existing customers, but PR companies wouldn't exist if popular opinion could not be swayed.

Possibly, but I don't think those kind of knee-jerk reactions have any long-term impact. The vast majority of consumers quickly go back to buying products they are familiar with and enjoy. Besides, the UK leaving the EU would be unlikely to stir up the kind of emotional reactions that the release of Al-Megrahi did.

The UK imports more from Europe than it exports. Europeans have more to be worried about Britain leaving the EU than we do.

Anyway trade is a completely separate issue to membership of the Eurozone and Britain's trade relationships with EU member states would not be affected at all by us leaving the EU. There are other very wealthy nations (notably Norway and Switzerland) that are not EU members yet have good trade arrangements with the EU.