Stay or go? EU poll - Oh the irony.

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

It's a surcharge. It's even described as a surcharge.

And I don't care what Farage's face looks like.

Farage's point is only hightened as a result of today.

It's been announced we are not going to pay it anyway.....straight from David Cameron, with backing from Labour I believe.

So we'll see what comes of it and where we go from here. We cannot continue on like this that's for sure.

Splitting hairs really. It's exactly as I said it was - a retro balancing payment as GDP etc gets revised based on agreed principles.

It's a mystery why it's such a surprise. Happens every year - last year we got £450m back.

I'd get the sack if I agreed a turnover based retro and neglected to accrue for it with accounts.

Cameron is lying - he's been rehearsing his surprised face for weeks.

Thrugelmir

wotsthat wrote: »

Splitting hairs really. It's exactly as I said it was - a retro balancing payment as GDP etc gets revised based on agreed principles.

Assumptions as to the contribution from black market activities from 1995. Seem a little excessive in the context of an agreed principle. As at best can only be described as subjective.

Generali

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Assumptions as to the contribution from black market activities from 1995. Seem a little excessive in the context of an agreed principle. As at best can only be described as subjective.

What part of the process of estimating the black market part of the economy do you disagree with or are you simply assuming that it's subjective?

michaels

BobQ wrote: »

Maybe the rise in EU popularity is what happens when people see what the consequences of narrow nationalism north of the border nearly did to the UK.

I cannot see the obsession with a referendum. Referendums cost a lot of money to organise. Until an anti-EU party gets a reasonable proportion of the popular vote, it is a complete waste of money. People say "I have never had a chance to vote on it" but there are lots of things people are too young to have been able to vote on that are still accepted without the need for a referendum.

I believe in the most recent national elections parties proposing an EU referendum got more than 50% of the vote. Or perhaps they don't count as a measure of popular opinion because they were only European elections

TickersPlaysPop

KrytenIceCubeHead wrote: »

Eurodrone 1 : "Hmm looks like Cameron is coming over to try to renegotiate EU policies, to ward off a political problem in his country."
Eurodrone 2 : "We need a diversion. I know, how about announcing a big bill that he'll be forced to argue about and then, at the end, drop it by half so it gives him something to go home with and say he won? While changing nothing."
Eurodrone 1 : "Press the Go button."

I'm sure Farage will blow the smoke screen away on this one...

Also, people on this thread have said the EU doesn't care about whether the UK stays in the EU. Are you guys serious?! I guess you might mean the average EU citizen? I'm sure the EU accountants would miss our contribution into the pot? And also the global embarrassment/ undermining/ weakening caused by one of the biggest players leaving?

onlyroz

I don't understand why this surcharge is a complete surprise. Surely we have clever economists who would have calculated this in advance?

mayonnaise

wotsthat wrote: »

It's a mystery why it's such a surprise. Happens every year - last year we got £450m back.

I missed the MSE thread about that.
Also didn't make much news headline, I wonder why.

StevieJ

michaels wrote: »

I believe in the most recent national elections parties proposing an EU referendum got more than 50% of the vote. Or perhaps they don't count as a measure of popular opinion because they were only European elections

That will be about 15% of the potential voting population then.

mayonnaise

Thrugelmir wrote: »

That's where things diverge. Companies have a good insight into their financial position whereas Governments don't. Data is maintained on different platforms. Meaning that information is out of date as soon as it is produced.

Some governments seem to have a somewhat better insight though.

Mr Cameron's insistence that he had been caught off guard by the European Commission was undermined by the Dutch government, which said it had been expecting to pay more and set aside reserves.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/11186866/George-Osborne-failed-to-tell-David-Cameron-about-EU-bill.html

StevieJ

mayonnaise wrote: »

Some governments seem to have a somewhat better insight though.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/11186866/George-Osborne-failed-to-tell-David-Cameron-about-EU-bill.html

OMG it is starting to get embarrasing

A European Commission official said officials from Britain's Office for National Statistics have been in talks on the revision of EU contributions for the last year.
“This should come as no surprise. These figures were provided by the Office for National Statistics,” said a source.