The ‘disaster’ that wasn’t (Gordon J Stewart)

It is hardly a month since the IMF was telling us that voting to leave the EU would be a disaster. But they have now admitted, as we who advocated leave have said all along, that they got their sums wrong.

They were not alone and many other predicted “disasters” by the remain side, such as three million jobs lost, our being isolated and friendless, no inward investment and much else, have not happened either.

New predictions from the IMF now show that our economy will have grown outside the EU by 1.3 per cent by the end of this year, and 1.7 per cent in 2017. This will be outpacing both France and Germany. How much faster still it will grow once we are truly free remains to be seen, but the signs for continued success are excellent.

We have many new trade deals in the offing, including the USA who were telling us we’d be “at the back of the queue” for trade shortly before we opted for Brexit.

The Scots have been told that they cannot stay in the EU in the way the SNP want but, if they leave the UK, they can apply for membership as an independent country. However, it will mean no “opt outs” and having to accept the failing euro currency.

I can’t see Nicola Sturgeon “selling” that to the electorate and the same rule will apply to Northern Ireland, thus the future of the UK as a single body is secure.

The Commonwealth, our true friends, are gathering around in welcome and support despite predictions that they wouldn’t.

Australia, New Zealand, Canada and India have trade deals worth billions of pounds each just waiting for us to leave the EU so as to implement them.

While we remain in the EU these new deals cannot be implemented due to the restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Rome.

Inward investment is continuing with Siemens and Boeing both building new facilities here.
In short the country is recovering far faster than even we who advocated Brexit were anticipating, and things can only continue to improve.

Despite these facts we still see some of your regular contributors pleading to “reconsider” the vote and now there are even steps being taken to prevent us triggering Article 50 via legal action despite it being the clear will of the majority of the electorate and stated aim of the government.

Why some people want to surrender all these massive advantages and steady improvements of being out of the control of Brussels only to return to the calamity of a dictatorship called EU, which is failing and self destructing, is beyond me.

Gordon J Stewart
The Schoolhouse,
Mackenzie Place,
Avoch.

COMMENTS(12)

Add Your Comment
  • John Tulloch

    • July 27th, 2016 17:38

    Quite so, Gordon,

    We were told all sorts of doom-laden yarns about the sorry fate that would befall us if we voted Leave on 23rd June. However we heard today that, not only, was UK GDP growth strong in the second quarter, in the face of Brexit uncertainty, but all the stock exchange indices have returned to or exceeded pre-Brexit levels.

    Indeed, most indices, including the ‘All-share’ Index, are close to record highs for the last 12 months and the FTSE100 actually reached a new high for that period.

    https://next.ft.com/content/c3faa569-631e-31de-b9a3-b6d389bd2ccd

    REPLY
    • Robin Stevenson

      • July 27th, 2016 22:08

      LOL….One month on and both Gordon and John are claiming everything in the garden is rosy… Yeah! the pound down by 12% happens most weeks, interest on our £1.7 trillion is mere chicken feed, and our borrowing just got quite a bit more expensive, But Hey ho!… Enjoy your honeymoon while it lasts boys.

      REPLY
      • John Tulloch

        • July 28th, 2016 11:44

        Nobody says there won’t be an initial dip, so please kick your habit of putting your words into others’ mouths.

        Sterling is stable after the initial ‘panic of the Chicken Littles and the stock market, an indicator of future economic fortune is at its highest level in the past twelve months.

        The Chancellor has no plans to make compensatory adjustments before his November budget and the IMF has admitted it does not expect a British recession.

        There is as yet no sign of economic catastrophe, that’s all I’m saying so don’t add to it, thank you very much.

        Robert Sim is right, it’s too early prophecise – doom or salvation – so we shall just have to wait and see whether you and he are right and the ‘expert’ fund managers of institutional investors are wrong.

  • Robert Sim

    • July 28th, 2016 2:41

    Oh my goodness. Is this letter for real? We haven’t left the EU yet. In fact, Article 50 hasn’t even been triggered, so all this ‘celebration’ is, to put it mildly, extremely premature. The latest report from the Fraser of Allander Institute makes salutary reading: https://www.sbs.strath.ac.uk/feeds/news.aspx?id=1017

    REPLY
    • ian_tinkler

      • September 2nd, 2016 12:58

      Is not reality a real bind, Robert Sim. Poor Nicola’s grandstanding over the EU has come to noting. Scotland voters now favor staying in the UK, just like 2014 and the real non-surprise Conservative leader, Ruth Davidson now has a higher net personal approval rating than Nippy Sweety. Just to put a bit of salt in the wound, the rUK economy is thriving, sad about Scotland’s deficit, that is what 10 years of SNP/SG socialism does for Scotland,

      REPLY
  • Johan Adamson

    • July 28th, 2016 8:18

    Good news is very welcome, but the pound is still looking a bit battered, and is it not a bit early to know the full outcome? We haven’t left yet and it will be several years before we can count the pluses and minuses of leaving, even then they will cause argument I’m sure. At least we got off the fence though.

    REPLY
  • ian_tinkler

    • July 28th, 2016 11:09

    The Fraser of Allander Institute. O here we go again, a bunch of academics who I doubt have ever run a business in there lives!!! Robert find me a long term prediction this institute has ever been accurate about, I can not, perhaps I am looking at real bushiness, not economic models.

    REPLY
  • Brenda Staples

    • August 18th, 2016 13:04

    here’s a laugh! Gordon Stewart’s letter in the exact same words, appeared in the Hunts Post in Cambridgeshire on August 3, but purporting to be written by one Paul Bullen who is one of our UKIP mouthpieces! Do they have a central letter-writing machine??

    REPLY
    • Brian Smith

      • August 18th, 2016 13:51

      Quite so – Wir Ukip.

      REPLY
      • Michael Garriock

        • August 18th, 2016 17:57

        Better the “Wir UKIP” (if such a thing were to exist), than the “United States of Europe Communist Party” which we’re still under the kybosh of (for the meantime) from Brussels and Holyrood.

      • Brenda Staples

        • August 19th, 2016 9:57

        sorry, Brian Smith. What does “wir” mean? It’s not a word with which I am familiar.

  • ian_tinkler

    • August 18th, 2016 16:39

    Sadly, some critics, portray Wir Shetland in a far darker way. Accusations of being ultra-right wing, racist and anti-immigrant often appear in social media. Even in moderated formats, such as The Shetland Times, the infantile comment “Wir Ukip” is often forwarded by the prejudiced and politically motivated.

    At this time, in view of the recent Brexit vote, such stupid comment, either by design or accident, has caused considerable anxiety and trepidation amongst sections of the Shetland community.

    Well just look who we have here!! I suppose he thinks himself very clever.

    REPLY

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