? What are you talking about?
The £350 million was really £166 million and the rebates we got back we were told how to spend...
We can now spend that £166 million plus the rest as we want.
French and German companies are pleading we get free access to the single market given we buy £40 billion a year from France and £100 billion a year from Germany...we will get access to the single market and it won't cost £166 million a week...
Full border control? When we leave we most certainly will control our borders...
Imagine you are member of a fancy golf club (cost: 350 pounds a year) and as part of that you get to use the fancy golf club bar with live entertainment. Now suppose you leave the gulf club but still want to use the bar. Other members who have left the golf club has been allowed to use the bar, however at a price of 166 pounds a year.
- Do you think you are going to be allowed to use the bar for free?
- Do you think it would be good business sense for the golf club to show other members they could leave and still use the bar for free?
It would be suicidal for the union to let the UK get away with using the free market without paying or adhering to it's rules. For starters, it would be deeply unfair to member nations and would no doubt leave to more nations trying to quit the union. Regarding the "you can't live without us" argument, here is some news: EU trade with UK is 3% of EU GDP, UK trade with EU is 14% of UK GDP. Do the math, worsening of trade is going to hit you guys 3 times harder.
On top of that comes the fact that worsening of EU/UK trade relations will impact the UK in other ways, for starters it will retard investment, draw away parts of the financial center etc. etc. Then there are the internal UK consequences: Scotland might stay in the UK if they are guaranteed full access to the single market. Imagine what happens when that won't be the case and oh, by the way, the growing Edinburgh financial market is moving to mainland EU because you guys just lost the financial integration with the EU that made Edinburgh desirable. All that gives the EU additional leverage.
Furthermore there is the "surprise"-factor. Perhaps Germany really really want that trade deal, but perhaps Romania is like: "meh, not so much. There is an upcoming election and our voters would really like to see someone stuck it to the UK". Whatever deal is proposed is is going to be voted on by 27 countries.
we will get access to the single market and it won't cost £166 million a week...
Lol. Show me the official reports about leaving the EU that suggests such a thing. Here is a sample:
If Britain were to leave the EU, it would face a difficult dilemma: having to negotiate access to the
EU’s single market in exchange for continued adherence to its rules – or losing access in return for
regulatory sovereignty that would be largely illusory.
https://www.cer.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/attachments/pdf/2014/pb_britishtrade_16jan14-8285.pdf