wouldn't you have to cut back on services as a tax haven? The NHS might not be very happy about that.

There is nothing secret about it.

As well as being factually dubious, that didn't answer the question.

The question was wrong anyway. You don't have to "cut back on services as a tax haven". Cyprus, Singapore, Swizzerland in the past, etc, have all kinds of state services...

Maybe the one asking had in mind some derelict tax haven islands in the caribbean or so? Not all tax havens are like that...

No, services cost money and have to be paid for. That was my argument. Still interesting that you guys find that there is ground for argument - an irrelvant topic would not be ground for argument, wouldn't it?

All of this is true, but people drastically overweight the recent past when predicting the future. The world is littered with cities that were global or regional hubs in the past. Things can change.

This problem gets worse when the past becomes an argument for not taking the necessary steps to mitigate any potential change.

The UK was also the sick man of Europe before they joined the EU predecessors.

The modern successful UK is almost certainly a consequence of closer collaboration with the EU.

Almost none of the reasons the UK was successful before are true anymore.

closer collaboration - closer compared to what? The share of the UK's total trade that was with the EEC/EU fell during the time it was a member.

>The modern successful UK is almost certainly a consequence of closer collaboration with the EU.

Is it? Or just neoliberalism via Thacher making it more alluring to modern capitalism (succesful for society is another thing) and the same cheap credit flood in the 90s+ that happened across the West?

The Empire is no more though.

Right. But isn't there some wrinkle where London loses the trades denominated in eurodollars by leaving the EU?

Not if the companies with the eurodollars can get tax haven in London...

It also used to be an empire, that's gone.

Are they? Never heard of that being forgotten. Sounds like empty brexit fodder.