The UK Politics and EU Referendum thread - merged

[TightEnd]

[rfgqqabc]

Why do people assume the importers have all the power? Presumably we are buying things we need and at the best price currently possible. It sounds expensive to find new people to import from.

Lol.  Purchasers have no influence whatsoever.

Why did you lol? I put a question mark for a reason. I understand why people think the exporters will be the ones desperate to keep the business, that makes sense to me. But it also seems like whatever is being imported has an actual value to the country itself also. For example, if we look at oil, the exporters have a lot of power, because it is a necessity. Now I understand that when it comes to less essential goods like luxury cars then this might not be the case, hence I put a question mark, as it was a question. I realise my question does appear to be somewhat slanted, but I find it hard to believe only the importing nation has power in these situations. There are a lot of essential products like everything in the blue section in this graphic. Presumably another country could fill the demand if the EU did unnecessarily tariff Britain, but this doesn't mean we would manage to buy the same products at the same prices.

http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/gbr/

The decrease in the value of sterling is pretty worrying. I don't really know what politicians to trust but the markets tend to understand these things. 

[DungBeetle]

Apologies didn't mean to be as snarky as that post came across.  Good point about oil but if we could do without the luxury cars as you point out and the manufacturers will be desperate to keep the UK market.  Who knows maybe the UK will be stimulated to start producing more (we live in hope).

[RED-DOG]

EU referendum.

Is it right to allow a public vote when the majority, like me, don't understand the issues?

[RED-DOG]

BTW- I don't like the merged threads.

[Jon MW]

EU referendum.

Is it right to allow a public vote when the majority, like me, don't understand the issues?

Same could be said of the General Election

[PokerBroker]

EU referendum.

Is it right to allow a public vote when the majority, like me, don't understand the issues?

Same could be said of the General Election

The blame for this lies squarely with the political establishment and the civil service they continue to create confusion.   

[TightEnd]

EU referendum.

Is it right to allow a public vote when the majority, like me, don't understand the issues?

Same could be said of the General Election

The blame for this lies squarely with the political establishment and the civil service they continue to create confusion.   

come on!

individual responsibility, there is plenty to read and listen to to form a view

can't just go at politicians for lack of political engagement (though obviously expenses etc doesn't help the perception). society has dumbed down.

[TightEnd]

#Remain lead over #Leave is at 12 points in new ComRes poll

51% Remain
39% Leave
10%

Click to see full-size image.

[PokerBroker]

EU referendum.

Is it right to allow a public vote when the majority, like me, don't understand the issues?

Same could be said of the General Election

The blame for this lies squarely with the political establishment and the civil service they continue to create confusion.   

come on!

individual responsibility, there is plenty to read and listen to to form a view

can't just go at politicians for lack of political engagement (though obviously expenses etc doesn't help the perception). society has dumbed down.

Not just expenses.  But the behaviours in the House, the outdated language and protocol alongside the fact you can never get a truthful answer from them. 

The material out there currently is really only applicable to those already engaged in my opinion.   

[MintTrav]

Cameron let himself down today, sinking to insults about personal appearance.

[DaveShoelace]

Cameron let himself down today, sinking to insults about personal appearance.

Thought it was quite funny, but completely agree that it was out of order and not what you want at PMQs.

Unfortunately it could well be a winning strategy for him. Shame really because all Corbyn has to do is shout pig fucker at him and he could drop the mic on him there and then.

If it somehow got down to Trump vs Sanders, I fear the exact same thing would happen. All Trump has to do is keep shouting 'Socialist' at him and in America that would probably be enough to win him the election, which is sadly why I'd prefer Clinton to go up against him (well I think I'd prefer it to be Rubio for the GOP as he seems the least horrific) even though I like Bernie and Clinton is a corporate shill.

[nirvana]

Will leaving the EU have any effect on the housing market? I'm in a position to buy soon, not sure to hold on and wait the outcome.

Assuming the property is for you to live in and you think you might want to live there for a reasonqble lenght of time then just compare the costs of buying versus renting and make yr decision on that. The rest is irrelevant and guessing I think

[nirvana]

Yeah our first home.
I was thinking house prices are set by the demand for them. There are lots of Eastern Europeans coming to live in the uk so will us leaving the EU effect the numbers coming in or effect the ones already living here? If the demand drops will the market drop?

That's the thing I think, there may be temporary market factors (like the one you suggest) that force a price drop for a period but trying to second guess this, measured over say 25 years would likely cost you money. If you want to consider really transient factors like this then, given the odds of us staying in, you should buy now as the house will probably cost more in 6 months. That's not a recommendation of course as I have no idea what house prices will do in the next couple of years.

A price drop is obviously not great if you buy with cash and find yourself needing to sell with a reduced house price or if you borrow and find you need to move during a downturn. For most people who are buying with predominantly borrowed money it should be a fairly simple equation concerning the cost of borrowing that money versus rental costs at today's economics..ceteris paribus etc

[DMorgan]

As interesting view I thought

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/24/outers-win-lose-eu-referendum