The former is absolutely true

though there are steps to reduce the extent to which it's true. And the EU is the only institution big enough to take on Google with its suppression of local businesses as well (see DGCOMP's recent activity - largely because Vestager wants a bigger job but actually I'd support her in that ambition: she's very impressive).

On State Aid it's quite likely that anything other than No Deal would rule that out, also the workers' rights which often come more from the EU than the UK.

It's also true that the EU is more instinctively protectionist of its own industry than the UK on its own has been historically. See, for instance, emerging Chinese supply-side dominance in several sectors (take metals as an example). The EU cares about that much more than the UK does - we're somehow more intrinsically relaxed about it. That may be a good or bad thing, I suppose, depending on viewpoint!

Posted By: Old Man, Mar 23, 11:19:28