Britain in a Customs Union with the EU is like a lodger who has no control of the heating

By George ILIEV
Brexit Metaphor No 110. 

Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party are calling for Britain to enter into a permanent Customs Union with the EU after Brexit. Being in a Customs Union with a bigger entity that sets all the rules is like being a lodger in a house with a live-in landlord. In such a set-up, the landlord has exclusive control of the heating while the lodger would have no say on when to the heating should be on.

The rules of the Customs Union for Britain and the EU will start out the same, as at present. However, over time when changes need to be made, these changes will reflect the interests of the EU member states and not those of Britain. The changes may sometimes even be to the detriment of the UK. Britain may thus end up in a situation where it is the lodger who has a radiator in the room but the landlord takes down the valve every day and only brings the valve to turn on the heating when it suits them. The EU did warn, though, that upon leaving the EU Britain would stop being a rule-maker and would become a rule-taker.

I wonder if any Brexiteer would call this "taking back control". Yet, it is still better to be a lodger than not to have a roof over your head at all.

Radiator (Source: Wikipedia)

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Notes:
1. Timeline: This article is part of a series of original #BrexitMetaphors published daily. A total of 110 have been posted so far and another 51 Brexit Metaphors will be published every day until the planned Brexit date of March 29, 2019.
2. Disclosure: The author has a master's degree in European Integration. He also thinks he knows a bit about business, economics, entrepreneurship, China, history, geography, nature, science and Rubik Cubes.
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