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Sounds like i'll be reaping the Brexit Benefits there, what with being inside the EU and not in the UK.
Another git who doesn't have to put up with the negatives of Brexit has popped his clogs.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj9lk4jpr12o
kingmakers
Powerfull words, kingmakers of who, the new head of the conservative party? lol!
It's a pretty low bar.
Have we covered this yet? Apparently Tim Tams are now available in Tesco. Never tried one and it looks like a Penguin to me. But is this a direct result of our special deal with Australia that we could only achieve outside the EU?
I think I found an actual benefit. Maybe. Apple are not releasing their AI goodies in the EU due to competition law or some such. But I *think* they will be releasing then in Blighty-land.
Or something approximately like that.
But is this a direct result of our special deal with Australia that we could only achieve outside the EU?
They’ve been available in the Netherlands for decades. And you used to be able to buy them direct from the importer there… but that stopped a while back… for some reason…
But is this a direct result of our special deal with Australia that we could only achieve outside the EU?
More like a marketing thing for the supermarket,first time I heard of Timtams was when BJ was waving a packet.
If they were a ‘thing ‘ then someone would have exported/imported them years ago like Australian wine and anything else you could make coin on 🙂
Interestingly if you hop onto our companion site you’ll find a thread about how they were in Tesco previously in 2003 🙂
More of something, finally.
More residual pesticide on our food.
And we don't even have to pay extra for it.
I suppose another benefit is that behind the scenes it keeps people in work who have to sort out the messy bits that were never finished.
Oops Spanish airforce have caused a bit of a kufuffle last week.
New chapter of diplomatic tension between Spain and the United Kingdom on behalf of Gibraltar when talks are held at the highest level to try to reach an agreement that allows the British colony to fit into the European Union and the Schengen area after Brexit.
On this occasion the complaint comes from the United Kingdom and it is not because of an alleged incursion of the Civil Guard into what it considers British territorial waters but that Spain does not recognise taking advantage of the Treaty of Utrecht. According to Gibraltar's public radio and television, GBC, it is the alleged "incursion" of a Spanish military plane, events that, according to complaints, took place on Friday afternoon, when the military aircraft flew over the Peñón airport, in the hands of the British Ministry of Defence.
Can anyone summarise the actual factual benefits that this 27 page thread has come up with?
I'm lazy. Sorry.
Can anyone summarise the actual factual benefits that this 27 page thread has come up with
No significant ones.
Blue passports still leads the way on the tangible ones.
Many significant economic problems and negative impacts.
Can anyone summarise the actual factual benefits that this 27 page thread has come up with?
A load of Grifters got to make lots of cash, but overall the UK spunked hundreds of billions for less control and a poorer economic outlook.
The Express isn't spinning it very well - surely it's "UK stands firm against EU transport plan to make illegal immigration easier"
I think I found an actual benefit. Maybe. Apple are not releasing their AI goodies in the EU due to competition law or some such. But I *think* they will be releasing then in Blighty-land.
Or something approximately like that.
I’ve got all the AI facilities currently available in iOS 18.2, not that I use most of them, it’s just because I can, and the smart AI photo editing has actually been useful.
That Trans-European transport network thing - most British roads carry European road numbers, the M4 has an ‘E’ designation on the road signs.
I thought one benefit would've been not having to put up with those annoying retainer rings on disposable plastic bottle tops that are probably there to protect baby turtles, but make actually drinking from said bottles quite difficult. However, it seems when I returned to the UK for a visit recently, EVEN this EU mandate, inevetiably driven by unelected bureaucrats and so-called experts, has invaded our precious Sceptered Isles!
Ironically, one of the first things I did when finding out the referendum result was Google, "how to live in New Zealand" (like apparently many other people did that morning). Which is now where I live. We have no unelected EU bureaucracy ruling our lives here, but we do get to eat frozen berries imported from China that become occasionally contaminated with hepititis from raw human sewage used on Chinese berry farms, so you can't win them all.
Even by Express standards that's astonishing. What part of 'leave' don't they understand?
Fishing, farming, etc…
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-brexit-eu-farms-food-b2657424.html
“New requirements for physical, documentary and ID checks have complicated food trade between the UK and Europe, leading to a 16.3 per cent drop each year in food exports to the EU, the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy (CITP) found.”
Even by Express standards that’s astonishing. What part of ‘leave’ don’t they understand?
The real world part - which is 99.9%+ detrimental to the UK.
They're very keen on the fantasy version, though. The one where Blighty stands tall. The one where any argument can be won by singing "There'll Always Be An England" very loudly in the face of the other person.
I found one!
It's quite niche and incredibly minor and possibly not really a benefit. In the EU, due to sanctions there has to be extra paperwork around "No re-export to Russia" when shipping from the EU to non-EU or non-"partner" countries.
In the UK, we don't have to abide by that, apparently we're going off vibes...
I thought one benefit would’ve been not having to put up with those annoying retainer rings on disposable plastic bottle tops
TBH I thought they were actually useful as they stop you dropping the tops onto the floor, which is usually dirty/dusty.
TBH I thought they were actually useful as they stop you dropping the tops onto the floor, which is usually dirty/dusty.
This. I always put my top down somewhere and lose it. No more! Thank you, EU.
It almost makes up for the fact that whenever I go to drink out the bottle I get the cap pushed up my nose, or when I go to pour into a glass the drink pours into the cap first and then everywhere BUT the glass.
This just popped up in my Facebook history. A post I wrote in 2018.
So last night I went to a pub quiz and got a taxi home. The driver was a bloke of Asian descent, presumably ****stani, as is common for minicab drivers in East Lancashire. Maybe in his 40s or 50s, I wasn't paying that much attention.
Halfway home he spontaneously sparked up a conversation about Brexit, I'd had a beer or six so I don't remember exactly how it started now but it quickly descended into the usual tripe about the EU making our laws and all that jazz. My beer-fuelled brain went "right then, I'm having you" and launched.
"Well, that's just not true, is it," I said, and explained about how all of the laws coming from the EU were endorsed by us and in many cases we actually proposed them. And of course, there's the ever-reliable "what rules do you object to, name one?" He then went on a couple of other typical leaver flights of fancy which I roundly, if slurringly, rebutted. I expect it wasn't the direction he expected the conversation to go and sadly probably not at all how he's used to his fares responding.
And that's when it all went a bit... weird.
After he'd run out of semi-coherent arguments, he started going on about how the EU was really run by aliens, they were planning an invasion and we had to leave the EU to protect ourselves. The only way we were going to survive would be to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world in some sort of bubble or something. There was more, full-on David Icke conspiracy theory stuff, I forget it all now. Before I had time to say anything in reply he was pulling up outside home so I paid, left, and then burst out laughing so hard that I had to hold on to a garden wall to stay upright and the neighbours shouted out of their bedroom window to tell me off.
People, eh.
So there you go. Brexit benefit, safe from alien anal probes, or something.
Can anyone summarise the actual factual benefits that this 27 page thread has come up with
Tax free shopping. Don't get me wrong, it's pissy in comparison to the negatives, but a few hundred quid each holiday is better than nowt Shirley?
Hmmm dunno whipping over to France on a weekend to grab beer and fags probably saved a lot more.
Anyway another Brexit benefit is that I have just had to employee the services of another lawyer to attempt sort out my Spanish residency under the WA.
Once it’s finally sorted I’ll put a post up (tbh It’s not actually that interesting)
It’s interesting to be on the other side of the immigration fence thou.
At least were not getting dragged into trade deals like this I guess..
I thought one benefit would’ve been not having to put up with those annoying retainer rings on disposable plastic bottle tops that are probably there to protect baby turtles, but make actually drinking from said bottles quite difficult. However, it seems when I returned to the UK for a visit recently, EVEN this EU mandate, inevetiably driven by unelected bureaucrats and so-called experts, has invaded our precious Sceptered Isles!
I know, right? Why won't bottling companies re-tool their production lines, just for the UK! so selfish!
Greater safety for EU residents from today. (May affect some of the crafty people here 🙁 )
"The EU’s new General Product Safety Regulations (GPSR) come into force on 13th December 2024, replacing older safety rules to ensure that all consumer products sold in the EU meet modern safety standards.
One important update is the requirement for all sellers to have a Responsible Person or representative based in the EU if you offer products for sale into the EU or Northern Ireland. If you’re a seller based in Northern Ireland that can be yourself – but if you’re a seller based outside the EU or Northern Ireland, you have to appoint an Authorised Representative located in the EU/NI to be that responsible person. This person acts as a compliance contact and ensures your products meet EU requirements.
The new regulations apply to all products placed or made available on the market whether new, used, repaired or reconditioned, with certain exceptions listed here. ‘Product’ means any item intended for consumers or likely to be used by consumers, whether in return for payment or free of charge. So even if you do not see yourself as a manufacturer making products, or you send something you have made for free to a customer based in the EU or Northern Ireland, these regulations still apply to you."
https://blog.folksy.com/2024/11/26/gpsr-guide-for-artists-and-makers-on-folksy
GPSR has just killed my wife's European business dead. She didn't sell enough to justify the hundreds if not, thousands of pounds it'll cost to appoint a "Responsible Person or representative based in the EU" plus all the repackaging that it'll require. There is so little actual information about this and there are so few individuals doing it that it's hideously expensive and simply not worth it for small businesses.
**** Brexit and all who promoted or voted for it.
Tax free shopping. Don’t get me wrong, it’s pissy in comparison to the negatives, but a few hundred quid each holiday is better than nowt Shirley?
Just how much do you drink & smoke to save a "few hundred quid each holiday"?
Presumably it's not just us impacted. It's everyone outside the EU, ie almost everyone. Much as I hate the term this does seem a bit of daft EU bureaucracy. Why on earth do you need a local representative in a country/region to meet local regulations.
Why on earth do you need a local representative in a country/region to meet local regulations.
Presumably so that they fall under your legal jurisdiction so they can be prosecuted if/when things go wrong.
make actually drinking from said bottles quite difficult
Not really, once you realise you can rotate the cap so it's out of the way. I didn't think this was a big problem to solve but apparently I over-estimated some people.
Can't remember if I posted on here about this but I am seeing a lot of small parts businesses and specialist bike shops suddenly withdraw shipping to EU because of all this.
Essentially the GPSR rules being talked about now already existed for CE class items like e-bikes or toys where you need to have product testing and EU representatives in place. Now that EU representative part has been extended to everything including e.g steel frames, or an EU rep and testing records for top caps or saddle bags which my not have come under any specific product class test standard before. It's a blow to small businesses.
Why on earth do you need a local representative in a country/region to meet local regulations.
So, when it comes to product a recall in your market, there's someone with the responsibility to do it.
Also looking at his EU. Mountain range whilst hiding in the DoD Lair, the crazy world of Brexit benefits are that they are for people in the E.U. 🙂
Hmmm. <looks out of window at EU mountains, before heading home to his home in the EU> …..Sounds like an opportunity to ME….
Wanna start a business? I have a file full of EU product regulations to offer : )
Tax free shopping. Don’t get me wrong, it’s pissy in comparison to the negatives, but a few hundred quid each holiday is better than nowt Shirley?
Just how much do you drink & smoke to save a “few hundred quid each holiday”?
Not everything is about drinking...
New skis, boots and bindings in Austria at half term.... £300 VAT refund.
New avalanche tranciever at Christmas ditto
4 Petzl Laser Speed light and an Ablokov threader about £50 back
Doubt we'll manage to get the tax back on the new Mantras as they are from France but...
It's weird that more people don't mention it on the forum given that travelling and shopping seem to be some of the favourite hobbies....
Correct me if I'm wrong but you get the EU vat back so you can pay the UK VAT. It's not a tax give away because you live in a different country. It's the end of a convenient reciprocal arrangement that made things easier. You should still pay the tax AND probably an import duty too.
Yebbut small scale smuggling and tax evasion is basically kosher innit?
Correct me if I’m wrong but you get the EU vat back so you can pay the UK VAT. It’s not a tax give away because you live in a different country. It’s the end of a convenient reciprocal arrangement that made things easier. You should still pay the tax AND probably an import duty too.
https://www.gov.uk/bringing-goods-into-uk-personal-use/when-to-declare-goods
Allowance for other goods
You can bring in other goods worth up to £390 (or up to £270 if you arrive by private plane or boat).If you go over your allowance you pay tax and duty on the total value of the goods, not just the value above the allowance.
You may have to pay import VAT and customs duty if you exceed your allowance.
It’s up to you to declare, but they are also allowed to seize your transport as well as your toys 🙂
Dunno how well it’s being ‘enforced’ (which makes a mockery of ‘taking control of our borders’)
Interesting that I can't see anything in that link differentiating between goods that have paid EU VAT and those that don't. So essentially shit loads of people will be falling foul of the following:
Yebbut small scale smuggling and tax evasion is basically kosher innit?
No?
I suppose a degree of common sense has to be applied. "Anything to declare, sir?" - "yes, I bought a tee-shirt from a tat shop in Magaluf."
New skis, boots and bindings in Austria at half term…. £300 VAT refund.
New avalanche tranciever at Christmas ditto
4 Petzl Laser Speed light and an Ablokov threader about £50 back
That's more than the £390 allowance. Not judging as I was considering getting a bike in Andorra but the confusion around VAT etc and the fact I got a UK bargain settled things.
bought a tee-shirt from a tat shop in Magaluf
Mmm but back to the example being discussed.... there's loads of ski shops in ski resorts. There's loads of Brits in ski resorts. I imagine a fair number of those Brits buy skis or boots and stuff whilst on holiday. Are all the ones that don't declare them returning through customs breaking the law and theoretically liable to seizure of vehicle if driving?
( Apart from the ones buying kit under £390 natch)
That’s more than the £390 allowance
Yep agreed. But my wife brought the bindings and one boot back, the kids brought one ski each and I carried the other boot and the skins. Or something. 🙂
Are all the ones that don’t declare them returning through customs breaking the law and theoretically liable to seizure of vehicle if driving?
If the goods were liable to a duty being paid on importation to the UK then yes the people are breaking the law and yes, technically their vehicle would be liable to seizure (Customs & Excise Managment Act 1979, s167 & s141) however for such a low value crime the seizure of a vehicle is unlikely - if it was stuffed full of Benson and Hedges that may not be the case.
Another Brexit benefit.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yg1471rwpo
Without the shortage of skilled labour, large parts of the countryside would flooded with new housing.
Yep agreed. But my wife brought the bindings and one boot back, the kids brought one ski each and I carried the other boot and the skins. Or something. ?
Nah, that line
You cannot combine your personal allowance with anyone else.
you’d have to be able to produce a receipt for each thing and share them about.
Remember that taking sports equipment on holiday and returning with sports equipment or a bike or even spare parts is not an unexpected event and you don’t log exactly what you left the country with 🙂
If the goods were liable to a duty being paid on importation to the UK then yes the people are breaking the law
Don’t forget the VAT,even if you’ve already paid local VAT on it it’s still liable for U.K. VAT 🙁
Remember that taking sports equipment on holiday and returning with sports equipment or a bike or even spare parts is not an unexpected event and you don’t log exactly what you left the country with
And this cost me £700 earlier this year in import and vat, having already paid vat at source and unable to claim back...
And this cost me £700 earlier this year in import and vat, having already paid vat at source and unable to claim back…
That sounds harsh and unlucky. Tell us more...
Was this something you were carrying?
Brexit has benefitted a warehouse owner.
https://twitter.com/cathynewman/status/1867619257053590011
Cathy Newman @cathynewman
Chairman of @marksandspencer Archie Norman @therealarchie tells me on @TimesRadio that Brexit means they've had to hire a warehouse just to store the paperwork needed to export to the Republic of Ireland….
On a similar theme did anyone take teamhurtmore's advice on the original Brexit thread of: "[Go long Dublin apartments]"?
Are all the ones that don’t declare them returning through customs breaking the law and theoretically liable to seizure of vehicle
O don’t think they are if they use them before returning. I think VAT and import duty only apply to new goods. If you buy the skis at the beginning of the trip and use them for the week you are no longer importing new goods. A technically but that’s what the law states. A friend of mine did it when buying a kayak in the USA.
don’t think they are if they use them before returning. I think VAT and import duty only apply to new goods. If you buy the skis at the beginning of the trip and use them for the week you are no longer importing new goods. A technically but that’s what the law states
I was indeed wondering about that. Any source for it? ( I will of course search myself)
I think VAT and import duty only apply to new goods. If you buy the skis at the beginning of the trip and use them for the week you are no longer importing new goods. A technically but that’s what the law states.
Import duty and vat is based on value not being second hand, customs relief on ownership doesn't apply for goods you've owned a week. If you have owned something for a week customs are likely to say the relevant valuation is the price you paid a week or go. But don't worry middle class crime is fine.
I reckon that things will look stuck for a while on rejoin, and then very quickly lots will happen to do CU and SM. They know, we know, even effing Faridge knows, that the only way we get back to growth is EU trade.
And I suspect that Starmer will prefer that as a means to growth than kowtowing to NUFC
I found one! Not a benefit for consumers or most businesses but definitely a benefit of you're a card scheme.
Visa and MasterCard took the opportunity to raise cross-border interchange fees fivefold from 0.2% to 1.15% for debit cards and 0.3% to 1.5% for credit cards. This post-Brexit increase, says the PSR, is costing businesses £150-200 million extra per year.
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/45219/uk-regulator-psr-plans-cap-on-cross-border-card-fees
New skis, boots and bindings in Austria at half term…. £300 VAT refund.
So you're a Smuggler now, are you going to turn yourself in or do we?
mugsys_m8
Hmmm. <looks out of window at EU mountains, before heading home to his home in the EU> …..Sounds like an opportunity to ME….
if I had the freedom to do it I'd be setting up an agency to do exactly this and I'd base it in Morzine, But sadly I'm British and apparently surrounded by muppets, so can't.
Not in any significant way is he doing that. Without accepting the 4 freedoms there can be no real rapprochement and refusing the young peoples mobility scheme really annoyed many in the EU
Not significant to you maybe, but by the same token you're not the yard stick by which 'progress towards closer ties' should be measured There's quite a bit of ground between active policies of exclusion and divergence on the one hand and a de facto membership of the EU in all but name on the other that would make trading and travelling a bunch more simple.
There’s quite a bit of ground between active policies of exclusion and divergence on the one hand and a de facto membership of the EU in all but name on the other
LOL how are those imaginary cherries tasting then?
We can of course accept as many of their rules as we want, in order to satisfy their requirements. And abandon any hope of the supposed "brexit benefits". I'd be happy with that but you can bet the headbangers wouldn't. And it would at best be a lot shitter than what we had before all this nonsense kicked off.
We are never going to get back to where we were, the best we can hope for is that we end up somewhere better than here. Hopefully before I retire so I can eff off to sunnier climes.
was indeed wondering about that. Any source for it? ( I will of course search myself)
I cant find one but it all seems to hinge on the value of the goods and as used they no longer have the same value as new ones
i did find this
https://www.gov.uk/bringing-goods-into-uk-personal-use/arriving-in-Great-Britain
This suggests that if you can show its from the eu th limit is £1000 per item
Via LinkedIn, presented without fact-checking, hashtag do your own research:
Laura Roman
• 6 hours ago
Guess what’s about to be illegal?
? Hiding salaries!
The EU is shaking things up with its Pay Transparency Directive, kicking in from June 2026.
Here’s the scoop:
? Salary history questions = BANNED
Employers won’t be allowed to ask candidates their current or previous salaries. FINALLY ?
? Mandatory salary disclosure
Employers must include the salary range in the job ad or, at the very least, disclose it before the interview. No more guessing games and wasted time ?♀️
This is a huge win for fairness and transparency in hiring.
As a recruiter (and, you know, a human), I always include salaries in my job posts. It just feels like the right thing to do.
But should it be a legal requirement?
Should the UK adopt similar pay transparency laws? ?
What’s your take?
We’re going through a salary review right now and the first person in the same department as me has a clause in his new contract forbidding any discussion of his salary with colleagues…
We’re going through a salary review right now and the first person in the same department as me has a clause in his new contract forbidding any discussion of his salary with colleagues…
What's the 'cost' if they were found to?
What’s the ‘cost’ if they were found to?
I doubt it's legally enforcable to punish people for sharing their salaries? You'd probably have a target on your back after that though.
I think it should absolutley be transparent... I once got a 3k pay rise out of the blue, and thought 'how nice!, I'm valued!'.
Turns out I was getting paid 3k less than the person who sits next to me doing the same job, who was also a less experienced, newer hire, I got on with them very well, and I think my manager put two and two together, and equalised us before I inevitably found out and went nuts.
In retrospect, that was the catalyst for me becoming a 'silent quitter'... I probably cost the company a lot more than that over the next few years by basicaly not giving AF.
In my insustry, the only way to get a decent pay rise is to get a new job with a different company once every few years, but then that looks bad on the CV if you are a job hopper.