THE CUSTOMS UNION

There seems to almost universal acknowledgement that we will need to leave the customs union if we want to sign up trade deals with other countries. I say almost universal because I came across an article (HERE) where Richard North claims that this may not be the case. In fact he seems certain that we can sign up trade deals according to WTO rules.

What the government or the EU will make of the arguments made I don't know. However, the article does say we would have the pay the difference between the import duty we charge and the CET if we re-export the goods into the EU. So I assume there will need to be customs checks or declarations and this is going to add time and costs.

RED TAPE AND PLENTY OF IT

Before the vote we were told red tape and regulation was stifling British industry but now a report for Open Britain, a pro-EU think tank, says if we exit the customs Union there will be an "avalanche" of paperwork for businesses that export or import from the EU (HERE).

The report claims we made 70.5 million import declarations and 6.5 million export declarations last year. If we leave the customs union this will add another 60 million declarations.

This will not help the car industry which was already vulnerable see HERE

NISSAN - THE QUESTIONS KEEP COMING

A couple of articles on Friday raise questions about the Nissan deal. Reuters (HERE) suggest the flood gates will open with claims from other car makers to obtain "assurances" that they won't be impacted by Brexit.  And Anna Soubry, the former business minister (HERE) thinks the government must have made some big promises to keep Nissan either assuring them Britain would remain in the customs union or confirm that they will be compensated against any tariffs.  Also Bloomberg are asking what it cost Theresa May (HERE).

A couple of other people have articles saying we will stay in the customs union including Sky News political editor Faisal Islam (HERE).

I must admit it is difficult to fault Mr Islam's logic.