This takedown of the Sun’s Brexit ‘bargains’ retweeted by Jacob Rees-Mogg is essential reading
8.
8 Bottom line: the UK supported the EU’s banana trade policy, because it benefited UK companies and retained some Commonwealth links (nb regular “banana boats” carry other exports). Why would the policy change after Brexit?
But wait! There are other flaws with the S*n article.
— Steve Peers (@StevePeers) February 28, 2018
9.
9 (Trigger warning for mathsphobes)
The S*n calculates its “savings” based on the *retail price* of the goods. But tariffs (if charged at all) apply to the value of the product when it’s *imported*. That’s obviously less than the final retail price, due to VAT, shop markup etc
— Steve Peers (@StevePeers) February 28, 2018
10.
10 This is especially true for cigarettes, where, as we all know, the retail price includes a huge excise tax.
Bottom line: even where tariffs *are* charged, the amount of savings (50p or whatever) per product would be much less than the S*n claims.
— Steve Peers (@StevePeers) February 28, 2018
11.
11 Next: *all* the S*n numbers include a basic maths error
You know how, if a product costs £100, and the VAT rate is 20%, the *amount* of VAT is *not* £20/item, but about £19 (since the VAT is charged on the *pre-VAT* cost)?
The S*n made that error with its tariff calculations
— Steve Peers (@StevePeers) February 28, 2018
12.
12 Next: on butter in particular, the S*n doesn’t understand the tariffs. This is an area where tariffs are based on the volume, not the import price. See this thread.
Bottom line: the tariff adds 15p, not £1, to the cost of non-EU butter https://t.co/Mtf2LCjzDo
— Steve Peers (@StevePeers) February 28, 2018
13.
13 Overall bottom line: EU tariffs have some impact on consumer prices, but vastly less than the S*n suggests. (They ignore products where the tariff is zero or low).
— Steve Peers (@StevePeers) February 28, 2018
14.
14 Tariffs aren’t unique to the EU – and the S*n itself published Prof Minford saying abolition of tariffs would “mostly eliminate manufacturing” in the UK: https://t.co/RSSqVvVDQW
Shorter bottom line: the S*n is lying to you /ends— Steve Peers (@StevePeers) February 28, 2018
And if you’re wondering about the author …
UPDATE
The Sun’s ‘Brexit bargains’ retweeted by Jacob Rees-Mogg has been deleted because it’s nonsense.
