We currently trade according to EU regulations. This makes the EU sovereign where trade is concerned.
Regardless of how immigration affects the UK, there is anti EU sentiment growing throughout europe. The EU cannot afford to see too many other countries vote to leave. There's a serious risk of them losing Italy.
As for all of the negotiating, who knows? We have a weak government in power with a leader who is a remainer, and the majority of westminster is out to derail the leave process. We have to wait and see what the leave process will be. However, the threat of walking away with no deal has to be upheld by us if we do not want to be taken to the cleaners by the EU, which is why May wanted a bigger majority government. That backfired massively, and this also has made the government weaker.
What do you mean we trade according to EU regulations?
In the future the UK will still sell to the EU. To be able to sell to the EU the products the UK sells have to conform to EU regulations.
The UK are selling to elsewhere in the world under WTO rules, there are some free trade agreements with various countries throughout the world of which the UK were part of the negotiations on the EU team with those countries. But the WTO rules are not the only thing that govern trade.
Whether now whilst in the EU or afterwards outside the EU, whatever the UK sells to other countries has to conform to that country's regulations. That had nothing to do with the EU and won't change.
I will add that when a country such as Australia currently deals with the EU, it knows that the products it buys will conform to EU regulations whether it was manufactured in Poland, Spain or the UK. When the UK leaves the EU which standards will the UK adopt and will they meet Australian regulations?
What will change is that all those deals that the UK were part of will become null and void when the UK leaves. The UK will then have to negotiate a new deal with every single country or bloc.
Now destroying what the UK already has in order to hope that something better than they currently have might occur in the long distant future seems a very high price to pay for something which would be nigh on impossible.
What you are saying is that a corner shop could get a better deal than Tesco or Sainsbury with the wholesaler. How is that possible?
I don't see how Italy would want to leave the EU, that would be economic suicide as well.. Sure people are fed up with immigrants/refugees but the boats will still cross the Mediterranean whether they're in or out. The problem is why there are so many refugees - sort the problem at the source.
The EU would prefer that the UK had a strong and stable government, they don't know who they're dealing with, is it Johnson and JRM, May and Davis or the Daily Mail, who's really running the country.
Having a 100% Tory Hardline Brexit House of Commons will not change the fact that the EU are not going to allow the UK to cherry pick which parts they like.
However, I'm still unclear what the UK will negotiate. Will they pay 38 , 39 or 40 billion pounds. Citizens rights are the only real negotiating point left other than the future trade negotiations which will only start when the UK have left.
The UK have said they are leaving the CU/SM so either they change their mind or they have to put up a hard border in Ireland, not because of EU regulations but because of WTO regulations.