It's Norway Plus - Francesco Rizzuto

[ToraToraTora]

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1062832/Brexit-news-Francesco-Rizzuto-UK-EU-withdrawal-Canada-Norway-deal-May-backstop-latest
"Experts" have rarely been correct on Brexit so far, so what do we think?

[Old_Geezer]

Without reading the lot (no time) "would see the country remain a member of the European Economic Area" makes it a non-starter as it retains the 4 impositions. We won't have exited, so I suspect the EU might try to look magnanimous if pushed.

[New Judge]

"The Lancashire-based academic suggested the British Government could ditch the Prime Minister's proposed Brexit deal to consider a softer alternative to maintain trade ties with the European Union."

The UK can easily maintain trade ties with the EU by reverting to WTO terms (of which the EU is a member and which the UK will become a member in its own right upon Brexit).

[ABerrant]

"...reverting to WTO terms (of which the EU is a member and which the UK will become a member in its own right upon Brexit)."

The UK is already, and always has been, a member of the WTO (it is a founding nation member along with its predecessor GATT), which by dint of EU Treaties has ceded its sovereignty in trade matters to the supranational behemoth EU.

[jim360]

Experts haven't been nearly so wrong as you give them credit for -- and in any case, what logic is there in the idea that the less you know about something, the more likely you are to have an informed and accurate opinion?

[New Judge]

"The UK is already, and always has been, a member of the WTO (it is a founding nation member along with its predecessor GATT), which by dint of EU Treaties has ceded its sovereignty in trade matters to the supranational behemoth EU."

Yes thanks for the clarification, AB. Of course the UK's membership of the WTO (or any other non-EU trade organisation or arrangement) is utterly useless whilst we remain in the EU.

[ToraToraTora]

i was thinking of the predicted financial catastrphies buy the sp called experts, like the IMF: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/oct/04/imf-peak-pessimism-brexit-eu-referendum-european-union-international-monetary-fund
treasury/BOE etc:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4419490/Only-two-Osborne-s-19-Brexit-forecasts-come-true.html

[jim360]

I've explained in the past why those predictions were, in practice, rendered void by political events. It's a nonsense to cite them as proof that experts were completely mistaken. They were, however, lied to by politicians, chiefly Cameron, who had promised to stay in office and trigger Article 50 on June 24th. Neither of those happened. It *is*, however, generally accepted that growth has been impacted, investment has dried up, and many long-term decisions have been postponed; it is also widely accepted that No Deal would be a serious economic hit. All of these are in line with what the experts expected.

[Zacs-Master]

‘catastrphies buy’

Ouch!

[youngmafbog]

"I've explained in the past why those predictions were, in practice, rendered void by political events."

But surely when making predictions about a political event all directions should be taken into account before opening trap. putting digit to keyboard or pen to paper?