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Intel said it didn't consider UK for new chip-making factory because of Brexit

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21–30 of 36 posts

Re: Intel said it didn't consider UK for new chip-making factory because of Brexit

#21
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

£30 per hour for picking broccoli and they still can't fill the roles...basically says it all IMO. I love the UK too.

Everyone realizes how bad these sorts of jobs are. Backbreaking work, and you can't really take the job if you don't have childcare, cannot physically do it, or cannot travel with the job for some reason. Oh, and do I need to mention that the jobs aren't year-round? If you want to work all year, you probably need to be able to travel, which is going to be more difficult since brexit than it was before and the pay cer…

To add some detail, Intel has a major presence in Swindon. I was an intern there many years ago, and I still know people at the firm. Some big bosses were based there, and it would be natural for a UK fab to have been staffed from among those people.

So it's not just that Intel could have put the site anywhere in Europe, there would be some natural advantages in the UK that are undermined by Brexit.

Re: Intel said it didn't consider UK for new chip-making factory because of Brexit

#22
post #2

Well, of course? What did brexiters expect? Doing business from the uk to the rest of europe is harder and more expensive now, of course it is better to do it in ireland (geographically close and speaks english natively) or somewhere else (idk, Germany or something).

Friendly reminder that Europe is not European Union.

For foreign business investment purposes Europe = UK + EU (and associated / treatied countries). Yes there are a few other areas (Ukraine, Russia), but they don't have much of an economy nor geopolitical safety, and are not in play for a multi-billion dollar investment unless its resource extraction.

Re: Intel said it didn't consider UK for new chip-making factory because of Brexit

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes it is

But it's not really, Russia is part of the continent, and not a member of the union. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe

There is a long tradition, especially in England, of distinguishing between Europe (the continent) and the islands of Britain and Ireland. It's very prominent in English literature of past centuries.

Re: Intel said it didn't consider UK for new chip-making factory because of Brexit

#25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Friendly reminder that Europe is not European Union.

Thats like saying America is not United States, we know that :) While geographically correct of course, politically and economically USA with its 50 states is the center of gravity in North America just like like EU with its 27 states is center of gravity in Europe

[deleted]

Re: Intel said it didn't consider UK for new chip-making factory because of Brexit

#26
post #5

"Chocolate teapot no good for hot tea". No surprise whatsoever. What on earth did Brexiteers think was going to happen? Still, at least we now have £350m a week for the NHS (oh wait, we don't) and a whole bunch of trade deals with others (oh wait, we don't) and a thriving economy (sigh). Obviously Covid will be used as the fall guy from now until eternity, but it's so blindingly obvious that we've been stiffed by a b…

>What on earth did Brexiteers think was going to happen?

I assumed this sort of thing and worse, and thought that on balance, it was worth it.

Re: Intel said it didn't consider UK for new chip-making factory because of Brexit

#27
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and a whole bunch of trade deals with others (oh wait, we don't) I’m all for bashing brexit but let’s stick to facts here (otherwise you’re no better than they are), I’m pretty sure the UK has done trade deals. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47213842

Just about all of those are rollover deals from the existing agreements the UK already had when it was part of the EU. That's not a bad thing, but at best it just maintains the status quo. You can count on one hand the number of truly new deals that have been signed, none of which are particularly significant. Meanwhile, trade with the EU, the UK's biggest trading partner, has fallen off a cliff.

Trade deals take years (if not decades?). The fact that we're only just out of the EU and we had a pandemic to take everyone's mind off the ball I'm not worried (yet) about the lack of trade deals. IMHO opinion people are too quick to shout "see Brexit is bad!", it's been 40 (?) years of EU membership - of course there's going to be issues whilst we untangle ourselves from the EU. None of what has happened so far is surprising.

Re: Intel said it didn't consider UK for new chip-making factory because of Brexit

#28
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and a whole bunch of trade deals with others (oh wait, we don't) I’m all for bashing brexit but let’s stick to facts here (otherwise you’re no better than they are), I’m pretty sure the UK has done trade deals. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47213842

Trade deals which leave us worse than where we started or offer too little value to offset the damage of what we lost. The deal with Australia is reportedly very one-sided.

Yes and over time these can be renegotiated. It's short-sighted to think that once you have a trade deal then that's it "for life".

Re: Intel said it didn't consider UK for new chip-making factory because of Brexit

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just about all of those are rollover deals from the existing agreements the UK already had when it was part of the EU. That's not a bad thing, but at best it just maintains the status quo. You can count on one hand the number of truly new deals that have been signed, none of which are particularly significant. Meanwhile, trade with the EU, the UK's biggest trading partner, has fallen off a cliff.

Trade deals take years (if not decades?). The fact that we're only just out of the EU and we had a pandemic to take everyone's mind off the ball I'm not worried (yet) about the lack of trade deals. IMHO opinion people are too quick to shout "see Brexit is bad!", it's been 40 (?) years of EU membership - of course there's going to be issues whilst we untangle ourselves from the EU. None of what has happened so far is…

You're mischaracterising the criticism.

The problem is not that it's surprising that trade deals are hard, nor even that the ones got so far are either relatively low volume affairs or involve concessions that some (all?) experienced trade negotiators consider unwise.

It's that the political class that engineered Brexit claimed that trade deals would be easy, labelled anybody who pointed out that they were wrong "remoaners", harassed career civil servants for giving honest advice, and hamstrung efforts to prepare for this frequently predicted situation.

I expected Brexit to be bad, but I was perfectly capable of having civil conversations with people who supported it. I didn't expect Brexit to be this bad, because I did not expect the Tories to be this incompetent, or the Brexit-supporting media to be this dishonest.

Now I know better.

Re: Intel said it didn't consider UK for new chip-making factory because of Brexit

#30
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trade deals take years (if not decades?). The fact that we're only just out of the EU and we had a pandemic to take everyone's mind off the ball I'm not worried (yet) about the lack of trade deals. IMHO opinion people are too quick to shout "see Brexit is bad!", it's been 40 (?) years of EU membership - of course there's going to be issues whilst we untangle ourselves from the EU. None of what has happened so far is…

You're mischaracterising the criticism. The problem is not that it's surprising that trade deals are hard, nor even that the ones got so far are either relatively low volume affairs or involve concessions that some (all?) experienced trade negotiators consider unwise. It's that the political class that engineered Brexit claimed that trade deals would be easy, labelled anybody who pointed out that they were wrong "rem…

So I agree with what you are saying, but I think you (and many people) misunderstand what a politician's job is for. They are there to deliver, and simplify messages to try and get people on-board with whatever idea they are campaigning for. This may mean over-simplifying a complex system, or "bending the truth" (a good politician can do this in the face of accusations about lying and claim that what they are saying is true if you look at the data in a certain sort of way). A politician is not your friend...again none of this is surprising.

> I didn't expect Brexit to be this bad,

I think we have different ideas of what "bad" is. There are understandable difficulties, but black-swan events in recent years have completely overshadowed any damage that Brexit may be causing. COVID-19 is "bad" in my books. Chinese/Russian influences are "bad". Also see chip shortages, global supply chain issues, etc. Arguments about fishing are not - unless you are one of the small number of people affected by this...again on the scale of a country I'm not convinced.

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