The Swiss capital of the European country
The political class in Westminster tend to look at the UK from a London perspective, and to listen especially to the needs of the City of London (i.e., the big financial institutions). Most of the British media exist in the same bubble, which is why so many topics are being discussed as if everybody in the country was making a very comfortable living working in a multinational bank in London.
This became abundantly clear again yesterday, when a majority in Westminster voted to force the UK government to demand an EU budget cut, which is surely another small step towards the Brexit. In other news yesterday, it was noted that the regional divide is growing within England, and Scotland was fully preoccupied with the question of Scottish membership of the EU.
The problem is that London is to a large extent a global Switzerland, and as such EU membership isn’t necessarily such a good idea — a Swiss solution vis-à-vis the EU and lots of bilateral free-trade agreements would probably suit London best.
On the other hand, the rest of the UK is probably not that different from most of Europe, and although we can save Scotland through Scottish independence, I do fear for the prospects of the north of England if London takes the (r)UK out of the EU.
I often think that independence for Greater London would solve even more problems than Scottish independence, but alas it’s not on offer.
The current state of affairs is a bit like if the Switzerland and France had formed a union at some point and had moved the capital, the company headquarters, the politicians and the media companies to Zürich, with the result that both parts of the union were being run based on what was best for Zürich. I doubt most of France would have flourished in such a scenario.
I agree with you that EU membership is not so good for the London economy but I wouldn’t restrict that to London quite so much as you would. What’s good for London is also good for the rest of the UK — and that’s where we fundamentally differ obviously!
To a certain extent — if London pays more taxes, that helps everybody. But if a company moves its HQ from Glasgow to London, that’s good for London but bad for Scotland, so it’s not as simple as that.
That’s a very Statist approach Thomas (the taxes part). The economic value of an area is not about what it pays in tax, it’s about how it generates economic activity. Taxes are a side-effect of economic activity, not the main purpose.
Fair enough. But I don’t really see how economic activity in London leads to increased economic activity in Scotland in most cases – apart from through taxes.