Re-joining the single market and customs union ??

On March 10, the welfare charity umbrella organisation Paritätische Wohlfahrtsverband presented a second, updated edition of its 2022 Poverty Report. This in itself is a novelty. Even more explosive are the findings it contains—poverty in Germany has risen more sharply than previously assumed due to the coronavirus pandemic and inflation.

In 2021, it rose to 16.9 percent of the population, 0.3 percent higher than assumed when the initial results were published in June 2022. Compared with the previous year, poverty had thus risen by a full percent, to encompass 14.1 million people, reaching a sad peak in the second year of the pandemic. And it continues to rise: the effects of rampant inflation since 2022 have not even been considered in this updated report.
Among children and young people, more than one in five is affected in Germany, which is considered a high-income country. In this group, poverty amounted to 21.3 percent. Child poverty is also evident from the figures for large families and single parents: 42.3 percent of single-parent households and almost one in three couple households with three or more children (32.2 percent) were considered poor in 2021.
Among children and young people, more than one in five is affected in Germany, which is considered a high-income country. In this group, poverty amounted to 21.3 percent. Child poverty is also evident from the figures for large families and single parents: 42.3 percent of single-parent households and almost one in three couple households with three or more children (32.2 percent) were considered poor in 2021.

Old-age poverty has also continued to rise, with 18.2 percent of people living on pensions considered poor, female pensioners (19.5 percent) are significantly worse off than male pensioners (15.2 percent).

Old-age poverty is causing great and justifiable acrimony. One of those affected is quoted in the report as saying, “We old people have generally done our best in our careers to help this society move forward. We have developed skills, accumulated life experience and knowledge. Each to the best of his or her ability. I don’t think anyone deserves to be treated this way in their old age as a retiree.”

The impoverishment of large segments of the population did not start with the pandemic but follows a trend that has continued since 2006. Since then, poverty rates have steadily increased from 14 percent in 2005 to nearly 17 percent in 2021. Since the start of the pandemic, this increase has accelerated, and poverty rates rose by a full percentage point compared to the 2019 survey.

www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/03/20/phai-m20.html


UK 
The Resolution Foundation, an independent think tank, forecasted in January 2023 that absolute low income will increase from 17.2% in 2021/22 to 18.3% in 2023/24. This means an additional 800,000 people in absolute low income.

commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn07096/#:~:text=The%20Resolution%20Foundation%2C%20an%20independent,people%20in%20absolute%20low%20income.

Nah. 

More anti Brexit tantrum politics from someone who has no political ideas of his own.

And someone so politically naive should not be trusted to run a bath, never mind the UK's foreign trade policy.

Since our vote to leave the EU, we've gone from exporting £223 billion to it in 2015, to £340 billion to it in 2022.
The proof is in the pudding.

If we'd kept parity with pre referendum EU export sales, we'd now be selling £280 billion to the EU. Remoaners would be happy, but we'd probably be in recession.

I'll take the extra paperwork for the extra profits we're making.

And our rest of world trade is up too.

Back when we were members we were a nation in decline.

Brexit is working.

Now there is hope.

There's far worse food price inflation in the EU than in our country, so Brexit is helping, our imports from the Commonwealth are helping.

We could not negotiate free trade deals of our own when we were members. We had the Common External Tariff. We had externally imposed protectionism and externally inflated food prices.

Look back to the 70s and see the effect of joining the EEC, that pushed up food prices.

Fucking glad to be out.

Indeed.

There is more to be done though and things could improve further if the EU conditioned 'blob' and MP's had the confidence and competence to change the mindset of a managed decline nation that embodies low growth, low interest rates, swallowing austerity and high tax. The aforementioned 'orthodox' way by virtue of 'the adults now being in charge' - Rishi & Runt has been dreadful over the last 15 years. Real wages have hardly grown and investment is weak.

What Liz Truss did get right is to point out the the UK's orthodox model towards the economy isn't working. But the technocrats are back in charge and they know what's best, apparently.

Still, it could be worse. We could be in the EU.

Brexit is a start, it isn't an end. And, while many are still in denial the time will come when the penny will drop and realise managed decline isn't the only option. The penny is dropping from outside the Earth's atmosphere unfortunately, and in the meantime denialists will call to reverse Brexit while current group-think (managed decline) around the economy is still in play.  

The only way to properly assess the value of anything that involves international trade is to assess it by the same currency...the dollar.

Well if you convert it into Dollars the value of exports has still risen since 2016.