CANZUK

[Mike Teavee]

Have just come across CANZUK which is basically a proposal to allow freedom of movement / trade between Australia, Canada, New Zealand & UK so would mean that citizens of those countries would find it easier to migrate to the other countries ... 

 

This site seems to have a lot of information about it... https://www.canzukinternational.com/latestnews

 

Has anybody been following developments around this?

 

[theoldgit]

Troll post removed

[samran]

I think it is a basically a wet dream for ardent monarchists in the colonies and those Brits who dream of empire.

 

The proposal for a post brexit free movement scheme was recently poo pooed by the Australian Trade minister 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/07/brexit-australian-trade-minister-cant-imagine-visa-free-travel-deal-with-uk

[mfd101]

Basically a British idea being pushed by Brits fearful of having noone to trade with post-Brexit: "Oh, what about those you know ex-colonies of ours? the ones that still speak English? Haven't seen much of them for over 40 years but I'm sure they'll be grateful to be able to trade with us again, you know?"

[BritManToo]

3 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

Basically a British idea being pushed by Brits fearful of having noone to trade with post-Brexit: "Oh, what about those you know ex-colonies of ours? the ones that still speak English? Haven't seen much of them for over 40 years but I'm sure they'll be grateful to be able to trade with us again, you know?"

I remember, beef from Argentina, New Zealand lamb, South African apples, and bananas from the Windies.

[Mike Teavee]

9 hours ago, samran said:

I think it is a basically a wet dream for ardent monarchists in the colonies and those Brits who dream of empire.

 

The proposal for a post brexit free movement scheme was recently poo pooed by the Australian Trade minister 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/07/brexit-australian-trade-minister-cant-imagine-visa-free-travel-deal-with-uk

I read that article differently in that the paragraph... 

“We’re not into full negotiating mode and we will have to see what the UK aspires to, but noting that work rights and movement of people in the UK has been a big part of the European Union debate, I would be surprised if complete liberalisation around migration and labour rights was on their agenda,” .

 

Suggests more that he cannot see the UK offering free movement than Australia "Poo-Pooing" it. 

 

 

 

[mfd101]

1 hour ago, Mike Teavee said:

I read that article differently in that the paragraph... 

“We’re not into full negotiating mode and we will have to see what the UK aspires to, but noting that work rights and movement of people in the UK has been a big part of the European Union debate, I would be surprised if complete liberalisation around migration and labour rights was on their agenda,” .

 

Suggests more that he cannot see the UK offering free movement than Australia "Poo-Pooing" it. 

 

 

 

Reads to me like a delicate (for an Aussie) way of poopooing the idea. What's in it for Oz?

 

Either way, it's hard to see it happening.

[Dumbastheycome]

11 hours ago, mfd101 said:

Basically a British idea being pushed by Brits fearful of having noone to trade with post-Brexit: "Oh, what about those you know ex-colonies of ours? the ones that still speak English? Haven't seen much of them for over 40 years but I'm sure they'll be grateful to be able to trade with us again, you know?"

Escape  route?

[Dumbastheycome]

11 hours ago, mfd101 said:

"Oh, what about those you know ex-colonies of ours? the ones that still speak English? Haven't seen much of them for over 40 years but I'm sure they'll be grateful to be able to trade with us again, you know?"

Is that to said in a very posh upper class  voice? ????

[mfd101]

1 hour ago, Dumbastheycome said:

Is that to said in a very posh upper class  voice? ????

Preferably

[samran]

4 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

I read that article differently in that the paragraph... 

“We’re not into full negotiating mode and we will have to see what the UK aspires to, but noting that work rights and movement of people in the UK has been a big part of the European Union debate, I would be surprised if complete liberalisation around migration and labour rights was on their agenda,” .

 

Suggests more that he cannot see the UK offering free movement than Australia "Poo-Pooing" it. 

 

 

 

You originally asked for people who had been following developments. 
 

I have. The article I shared are simply the latest polite rebuff for the Australian government. You can look the rest of them up.
 

The closest thing Australia is probably going to push for from the UK, is the E3 Visa type arrangement which is a unique visa which allows Australians to work in the US. It was negotiated alongside the FTA we signed with them in the early 2000s.

 

The catch? You need a job offer, you need to have a university education (or equivalent experience/credentials) and there are only 10,500 new ones issued per year but they are in. Once you have it you can renew it every 2 years but that doesn’t count against the yearly quota. 
 

As a result, arguable more Aussies now head to the US than the UK. 

 

[Mike Teavee]

9 minutes ago, samran said:

You originally asked for people who had been following developments. 
 

I have. The article I shared are simply the latest polite rebuff for the Australian government. You can look the rest of them up.

Thanks for the perspective from the Australian side, I've been in SIngapore for the past 12 years so have no idea how much this is being talked about in the UK but I guess it's probably been totally overshadowed by Brexit over the past 3 years.

 

Now that Brexit is coming to a head (UK will be free to make trade deals from 1st Feb) this feels like one of those things that will be very much in the spotlight along with any deal with the US (and obviously ongoing negotiations with the EU).