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Comment by headmelted | Hacker News Reader

For anyone not familiar with British political etiquette, the phrase:

"the UK cannot remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean not leaving the EU at all"

can be interpreted as:

"I told them they better give us a special exception for single market access and no immigration and they laughed at me".

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And for anyone not familiar with what's likely going on behind the scenes: it's about lowering the corporation tax in the UK. I don't know whether this is a new idea or not, but it would give the UK the leverage it needs in negotiations; will persuade many multinational corporations to stay and will even attract new ones.

However, there will be a lot of pain for ordinary people in the interim. Not for corporations though. it seems.

> will persuade many multinational corporations to stay and will even attract new ones

No. To have access to the EU single market, your company MUST have its main base of operation be in a EU member state.

This is not true in many industries, due to supranational regulation. MAT insurance (a huge financial product the UK exports to the EU) is exempt from this rule due to WTO regulation.

Furthermore, 'main base of operation' is pretty vague, and I don't believe it accurately reflects EU requirements. A subsidiary can be based in an EU country and provide you with all the access you would like. This isn't an option for smaller companies, but for larger ones its just an extra cost.

Leaving the single market doesn't mean no access at all, it's just tariffs and some bureaucracy. Not that I support all this, but the Govt. seems to be hoping that becoming a tax haven will compensate all that.

Yes, because becoming a tax haven has always done wonders for shifting money from the uber rich to the working class people. /sarc

The UK really needs to sort out it's internal policies and spread the wealth around the country and the not just keep pushing "the London agenda"

Northern Ireland is set to lower its rates to 12.5% [1] to compete with the Republic, I can see the entire UK following suit at some point during May's term with abolishing all corporate tax rates before 2025.

[1] - http://www.arthurcox.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Projecte...

Not likely now that we've dissolved our government.

Again.

I think both the Netherlands and Ireland will be happy to compete with that. And they have single market access.

Not sure the UK has the cost structure that'd allow being a true tax haven. Lower corporate tax alone won't make everyone move/stay.

Except reality, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/brexit-banks...

That article is from 23 October 2016. The tax haven talks are relatively new. I first heard about it as being part of the plan just a few days ago, from British media.

Which is funny because if the EU is to survive, immigration controls will have to be put in place. Many countries are already demanding to control their borders. So when that happens, the UK will feel stupid for leaving, I suppose. They could've just waited.

There are currently such controls for the EU, actually, and done on the French side of the channel. Those may go as well.

The Le Touquet treaty is a bilateral treaty between two countries and has nothing to do with the EU.

Only at Calais are they on the French side. They're on the UK side elsewhere.

Why the downvote?

With the exception of the Eurotunnel route, customs checks remain unaffected by juxtaposed immigration controls and continue to take place upon arrival after disembarkation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juxtaposed_controls

"control the borders!!!11" are one of the catch-phrases that make absolutely no sense for people with only a modest understanding of how it actually works

But I'm sure to some Brexiters brown people at the streets is the fault of the EU somehow

>brown people at the streets

You mean those of Indian descent that have been there 5 generations?

Ah those that speak better English than the natives and their kids have higher scores at school? Haven't you heard immigration ruins the country ;)

I believe if the UK could have chosen to control immigration from A8 countries, Brexit would have never happened.

I don't think it would have mattered if the UK actually did restrict immigration or not, it's more about not having the power to choose to restrict it.

Maybe, and not necessarily a direct control

For example, not giving unemployment benefits for those that just had arrived (though it seems this applies to all kinds of immigration)

> unemployment benefits for those that just had arrived

Is/was that really the case in the UK? From day one? I hop on a plane today, take a taxi from the airport to the unemployment office, get in line, and I'll have unemployment benefits paid to me starting in February?

You don't have to hate brown people (as you said up there) to understand that a system that gives benefits to people who have never contributed to it is not sustainable in the long term. And citizens from A8 countries are barely brown, anyway. ;P

I believe political correctness triggered Brexit, and will eventually kill the EU (not only because of immigration, though)

> You don't have to hate brown people to understand that a system that gives benefits to people who have never contributed to it is not sustainable in the long term

Of course

The UK is not talking about non-EU migration. The concern is EU migration. And that's very different to other EU countries. Germany and France are not concerned keeping people from Poland out.

Many countries are "demanding" that, because it's probably the easiest way for politicians to get more popular (right after "being tough on crime"). There's literally no need for inner border checks, as long as the outer borders are secure.

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