Referendum - result of vote, and implications for transport in the UK

[whole diary]

[ellendune]

Hitachi have rail factory in Italy http://italy.hitachirail.com/en so they can easily move any EU^» (European Union - about) build there, the facility was built in 6 months ..................... and the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) factory errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Where the West of England A300s are being built.  Now if they get orders in the EU which factory will do you think they will use? Italy or Newton Ayecliffe?

[old original]

Assumingly not a long term impact but this mornings main commuter train into Truro I've never seen so quiet. Coach F consisted of me, and 6 college students for Truro college. I assume unusually low numbers were connected to the vote.

Most of the college students have finished already as have some of the private schools

[TonyK]

Assumingly not a long term impact but this mornings main commuter train into Truro I've never seen so quiet. Coach F consisted of me, and 6 college students for Truro college. I assume unusually low numbers were connected to the vote.

Most of the college students have finished already as have some of the private schools

Don't forget that Glastonbury has kicked off. Hence the rain.

[stuving]

Hitachi must be pleased though.  Their trains are either built in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) or Japan.  Presumably a UK out of the EU^» (European Union - about) could drop the tariff wall to imported trains from Japan (I don't think the WTO would allow it to raise it).

But what is that tariff? In all the talk about access to markets, has anyone actually heard any current EU rates quoted?

Well, for trains it's 1.7%. Barely a wall, really, more of a kerb. But for some things it will really matter - most obviously cars, at 10% Other classes of vehicle are even higher, but maybe not things made here so much: buses at 16%, trucks at 22%, and bicycles at 15%. Most of Lord Bamford's products appear to be zero-rated.

Those rates apply to "GATT countries" since 1999, so they must be from the Uruguay round (which turned GATT into the WTO).

[ChrisB]

Odd that. Cornwall gets £millions of EU^» (European Union - about) money, and they go vote out...

[grahame]

Odd that. Cornwall gets £millions of EU^» (European Union - about) money, and they go vote out...

There is evidence that some of the people who voted "out" weren't aware of the effects of that vote.  I certainly didn't feel fully informed about what an "out" vote would bring, and I found myself having some difficult reconciling all the possibilities we were told it might bring (by both sided) into a picture of what it's actually likely to bring.

[TaplowGreen]

Odd that. Cornwall gets £millions of EU^» (European Union - about) money, and they go vote out...

There is evidence that some of the people who voted "out" weren't aware of the effects of that vote.  I certainly didn't feel fully informed about what an "out" vote would bring, and I found myself having some difficult reconciling all the possibilities we were told it might bring (by both sided) into a picture of what it's actually likely to bring.

Caveat emptor.

[ChrisB]

Sorry, but everyone knows the EU^» (European Union - about) puts huge funding into Cornwall projects....there's huge EU signs nearly everywhere you go. Really obvious, even to those not in Cornwall (even the Welsh worked that out, hence the areas getting funding there were in, others out).

While you may well be right on other points, the funding loss was clear to see.

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

EU^» (European Union - about) money doesn’t come by magic from nowhere, it comes from the constituent countries.  I’d far rather that funding for Cornwall came direct from HMG in London without being creamed off by EU administration, bureaucracy, and corruption. 

Money spent by EU = Money put into EU – cost of keeping thousands of EU bureaucrats in a lifestyle we would all like to have.


... although, before anyone else says, this has nothing to do with Thames Valley Infrastructure.

[ChrisB]

Indeed, but can you see HMG of either persuadion keeping these specific regional grants going where national projects (NHS etc) need additional funding?

Again, really not difficult to work out

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

That’s an odd line of argument.  How our taxes are spent should be a matter for our elected Government in London, not unelected bureaucrats in Brussels.

It may well be that more should be spent in Cornwall and less on the NHS, but let’s make that decision in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

... I’m keeping going on this side topic until it gets moderated out!

[ChrisB]

Oh agreed, but why on earth would they choose Cornwall over the bottomless pit that is the most popular spend in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)?

[ellendune]

Money spent by EU^» (European Union - about) = Money put into EU – cost of keeping thousands of EU bureaucrats in a lifestyle we would all like to have.

If you count the teachers then the EU employs less people than Derbyshire County Council

[John R]

It's not that simple.  For one thing, that comparison ignores the 6,000 employed by the European Parliament, the 3,500 employed by the Council for Europe and so on.  The EU^» (European Union - about) itself quotes 55,000 in a leaflet online, which compares with 36,000 employed by Derbyshire, including 8,000 teachers.  Even that isn't a like for like comparison, as many of those 36,000 will not be administrators, but providing front line public services (to the extent they have not been outsourced), whereas I suspect the majority of the 55,000 are administrators of one form or another.

[ellendune]

It's not that simple.  For one thing, that comparison ignores the 6,000 employed by the European Parliament, the 3,500 employed by the Council for Europe and so on.  The EU^» (European Union - about) itself quotes 55,000 in a leaflet online, which compares with 36,000 employed by Derbyshire, including 8,000 teachers.  Even that isn't a like for like comparison, as many of those 36,000 will not be administrators, but providing front line public services (to the extent they have not been outsourced), whereas I suspect the majority of the 55,000 are administrators of one form or another.

OK but it puts it into perspective