EU referendum

[ScepticalStan]

If the EU maintains the same position with a 'Brexit'ed UK as it does with other peripheral countries we would not have control over EU immigration, as has been mentioned several times. Where is the evidence from the Brexit campaign that we would be guaranteed to be treated differently to the EEA countries ?

 

....something about German car makers banging on Angela Merkel's door.

 

Post Brexit the German car manufacturers will be keen to preserve free trade with one of their most profitable markets - the UK. What they want will dictate what Germany wants and what Germany wants Germany gets in the EU.

 

If somewhere like Latvia wants to veto a deal with the U.K. In the Brexit negotiations the Germans will ask it to cover the missing net £8,500,000,000 contribution that Britain used to put in the EU pot. I imagine they'll pipe down at that point. As will the French.

[badgerx16]

Post Brexit the German car manufacturers will be keen to preserve free trade with one of their most profitable markets - the UK. What they want will dictate what Germany wants and what Germany wants Germany gets in the EU.

 

If somewhere like Latvia wants to veto a deal with the U.K. In the Brexit negotiations the Germans will ask it to cover the missing net £8,500,000,000 contribution that Britain used to put in the EU pot. I imagine they'll pipe down at that point. As will the French.

Is that taken from a quotable official source, or just brexiteer wishful thinking ?

[Batman]

Good news

 

Brexit will add around £3 to a packet of fags

 

good stuff

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

I see that the contraversial '£350m a week' nonsence has been removed from the side of the Vote Leave battlebus - only to be replaced by a new sign claiming we give the EU '£50m a day'. You "do the math" as they sometimes say on TV.

 

Yes of course both sides are at it to a greater or lesser degree - but this kind of contempt for the truth can't be a good thing for the long term health of our democracy.

[Wade Garrett]

And weve arrived at "Dictated to" and "sovereignty". Didn't take long. Bless you.

 

What a sanctimonious c*nt you are.

[buctootim]

Good news

 

Brexit will add around £3 to a packet of fags

 

good stuff

 

£23 per pack in Australia by 2020

[CB Fry]

Post Brexit the German car manufacturers will be keen to preserve free trade with one of their most profitable markets - the UK. What they want will dictate what Germany wants and what Germany wants Germany gets in the EU.

 

If somewhere like Latvia wants to veto a deal with the U.K. In the Brexit negotiations the Germans will ask it to cover the missing net £8,500,000,000 contribution that Britain used to put in the EU pot. I imagine they'll pipe down at that point. As will the French.

 

Two things.

 

I'd like to think the German car manufacturers have been listening to those awfully clever Brexiteers like Daniel Hannan and David Davis, who amongst other talk an awful lot about how Western Europe is a declining continent and the sensible thing to do is expand horizons beyond them to the rest of the world.

 

That's where the growth is. Listen to Hannan saying it on the video Batman posted up a day or two ago.

 

So Germany and its car manufacturers should stop worrying about dead, old Europe and start making the serious cash elsewhere like India and Africa just like Brexit Britain. After all, if German car industry can't make an effing mint on the world stage, god help the go-it-alone UK.

 

So when the mythical banging on the door starts Merkel would be sensible to play them Hannan's speech, get the CEOs of VW and Mercedes on the first plane to Cape Town and start selling them some more freaking cars. There's and whole world out there and they can take a short term hit from the UK by filling their factories from elsewhere right? Call it the Hannan model. I think they can cope.

 

Secondly - "what Germany wants it gets". Well if Brexit wins then they didn't want that and it'll get it, so there's an easy one.

 

Also, come Brexit the thing that "Germany" will want is not to show the rest of the EU that a departing nation gets a better deal than the remaining members of the club get, despite these German car manufacturers a-banging and a-clanging on the door.

 

And, you know, I hate to break it you, but a fair old slice of that £8.5bn will come from, well, big old us. We'll be making so much money trading with the rest of the world that's not sh itty old Europe it'll be chicken feed by then anyway.

[scotty]

It's a pretty sterile debate to run to 53 pages. We aren't going to vote to leave the eu, and even if we did there would just be another vote, and another, until we got it right . But to quote jeremy hardy, part of me wants us to just to see what would happen if we did.

[ScepticalStan]

Post Brexit the German car manufacturers will be keen to preserve free trade with one of their most profitable markets - the UK. What they want will dictate what Germany wants and what Germany wants Germany gets in the EU.

 

If somewhere like Latvia wants to veto a deal with the U.K. In the Brexit negotiations the Germans will ask it to cover the missing net £8,500,000,000 contribution that Britain used to put in the EU pot. I imagine they'll pipe down at that point. As will the French.

 

Is that taken from a quotable official source, or just brexiteer wishful thinking ?

 

I'm a business journalist by trade. The source was a senior credit officer at Moody's although needless to say I can't reveal his actual identity. Put simply; its in neither the UK's nor the EU's interest to put up trade barriers when neither side will benefit. Stupid little England Brexiteer idiots like Roger Bootle say much the same thing.

 

The whole thing reminds me of when Nissan said they'd pull their operations out of the UK if the UK didn't join the Euro, then proceeded to grit their teeth and double their workforce. They weren't in a rush (surprisingly) to move from 20% corporation tax Britain to 33% corporation tax France or 30% Germany.

 

We'll definitely stay in the EU but if the idea that we left we'd find ourselves in a tariff war with countries who have absolutely no incentive to get into one with us is laughable.

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

^ Well if the UK were to leave the EU, and then negotiate some trade deal in which we could in effect 'cherry pick' all that we wanted from the Single Market while rejecting all that we were no so keen about, then it seems to me that would impact on the remaining EU 27 quite profoundly.

 

What then is to stop other nations from embarking down the same road if it is a consequence-free move?

 

No, it seems to me that it is very much in the EU interest that this organisation should do all it possibly can to discourage other nations from following our example and seceding from the union. A new UK-EU trade deal would be reached eventualy I suppose. However, the nature and timing of this deal are unknown and the prospect of our vital financial services sector regaining its current open access to European markets looks pretty bleak.

[sadoldgit]

This says it all for me.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/29/eu-referendum-parliament-leaders-david-cameron-david-mitchell

[Whitey Grandad]

This says it all for me.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/29/eu-referendum-parliament-leaders-david-cameron-david-mitchell

 

Me too. The Great British Public are not qualified to take such decisions. We have an overblown elected parliament and we pay them to sort out these sort of things. They shouldn't go running back to mummy every time that they have to make a decision. We didn't have a referendum when we declare war in 1939.

[ScepticalStan]

This says it all for me.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/29/eu-referendum-parliament-leaders-david-cameron-david-mitchell

 

I'm afraid that given that the Tories won the relatively recent election with a comprehensive majority on the back of a manifesto that included a referendum on EU membership as a front-page policy, the likes of David Mitchell are welcome to speak for themselves and themselves only.

 

Me too. The Great British Public are not qualified to take such decisions.

 

Will you therefore be declining to vote due to your belief that you're unqualified to make a decision on the subject?

[solentstars]

Me too. The Great British Public are not qualified to take such decisions. We have an overblown elected parliament and we pay them to sort out these sort of things. They shouldn't go running back to mummy every time that they have to make a decision. We didn't have a referendum when we declare war in 1939.

lol the guy talks alot of sense and with someone like alan sugar spelling out the nonsence from brexit side in plain terms ,.. itreminds me of a guy going for a mortgage at 4 % from a well known europeon bank thats traded for years in the uk and to be told by a new rival start up uk bank with no ecnomic plan and says to him.. just.trust us ..we will be ok with no detail and then finds out hes paying 8%

[aintforever]

No, it seems to me that it is very much in the EU interest that this organisation should do all it possibly can to discourage other nations from following our example and seceding from the union.

 

Very true. It's also very much in the EU's interest to keep taking as much of our money as possible and take control of as much of our laws as possible.

 

Which is why a vote to leave is the ONLY way to get any sort of reform.

[Whitey Grandad]

Will you therefore be declining to vote due to your belief that you're unqualified to make a decision on the subject?

 

Of course I'll vote because I'm not qualified to decide to abstain.

[Whitey Grandad]

Very true. It's also very much in the EU's interest to keep taking as much of our money as possible and take control of as much of our laws as possible.

 

Which is why a vote to leave is the ONLY way to get any sort of reform.

 

Are you advocating a vote to leave without any intention of actually leaving?

[Guan 2.0]

I'm afraid that given that the Tories won the relatively recent election with a comprehensive majority on the back of a manifesto that included a referendum on EU membership as a front-page policy, the likes of David Mitchell are welcome to speak for themselves and themselves only.

 

Indeed. The vote in the referendum is predicated upon the mandated platform promised in exchange for a vote in the general election! Which I guess, y'know, would probably prove that people are surprisingly intelligent beings outside of the cult of the Westminster bubble, who are perfectly capable of reasoning how to use their vote. Just fancy that!

[sadoldgit]

I'm afraid that given that the Tories won the relatively recent election with a comprehensive majority on the back of a manifesto that included a referendum on EU membership as a front-page policy, the likes of David Mitchell are welcome to speak for themselves and themselves only.

 

 

 

Will you therefore be declining to vote due to your belief that you're unqualified to make a decision on the subject?

 

I don't know for sure, but I would assume that David Mitchell actually speaks for a great many people. This is a hugely important decision that could end up swinging on the votes of xenophobes.

[buctootim]

Very true. It's also very much in the EU's interest to keep taking as much of our money as possible and take control of as much of our laws as possible.

 

Which is why a vote to leave is the ONLY way to get any sort of reform.

 

The EU isnt some amorphous body with a life of its own. The EU has been on a path to ever closer integration because thats what the member countries want. Its what we signed up for at Maastricht and Lisbon. The large majority of the countries still want that. If that changes then the EU will change.

[sadoldgit]

Indeed. The vote in the referendum is predicated upon the mandated platform promised in exchange for a vote in the general election! Which I guess, y'know, would probably prove that people are surprisingly intelligent beings outside of the cult of the Westminster bubble, who are perfectly capable of reasoning how to use their vote. Just fancy that!

 

If you had heard some of the arguments I have heard about either staying in or leaving the words "surprisingly intelligent" would not apply.

[Nolan]

I don't know for sure, but I would assume that David Mitchell actually speaks for a great many people. This is a hugely important decision that could end up swinging on the votes of xenophobes.

Because everyone loves it when privately educated Oxbridge graduates speak for them right?

[buctootim]

If you had heard some of the arguments I have heard about either staying in or leaving the words "surprisingly intelligent" would not apply.

 

An awful lot of people havent really thought about the issues seriously - they've just swallowed the arguments from one side or another.

 

I got waylaid by a Brexit campaigner at a fair on Sunday. He started with predictable 'lack of democracy' in the EU. I asked him the obvious questions about how the EU was worse than a system where we don't get to vote for our Head of State, Prime Ministers, House of Lords and Mayors, and why was first past the post more democratic than proportional representation? It was clear he had never really thought about the British system before, he was just parroting the 'EU bad' line without ever having given it serious thought.

 

I used to be a fan of referenda - its seems to work well in Switzerland. Here though I think we've just got poor quality politicians and and a hideously biased press which makes them into a lottery instead of a genuine plebiscite. . This whole campaign has been based around fear and not information.

[Guan 2.0]

If you had heard some of the arguments I have heard about either staying in or leaving the words "surprisingly intelligent" would not apply.

 

Some, but not all (I have heard those same lamentable arguments). My natural inclination is to vote in, but my greater inclination is to open up the matter. I don't see how the rather dubious argument that David Cameron should go back go his pledge to hold a referendum on EU membership and ignore the mandate which he was partially elected for is some kind of 'Slam dunk' piece of excellence by Mitchell.

 

Instead it seems to ignore the major bugbears of the out camp surrounding lack of accountability and voter influence in EU decisions, and the feeling that since 1975 the EU has used the Common Market vote to expand it's decision making power into huge swathes of everyday British life, (although i would counter that as it was named the European Communities membership referendum, and the EEC was already expansive, it's not as if the 'No' side had a lack of fair warning).

[LGTL]

Good god, is anyone having the misfortune of watching the 'Vote Leave' election broadcast?! If this doesn't make you vote to stay in, nothing will.

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

Good god, is anyone having the misfortune of watching the 'Vote Leave' election broadcast?! If this doesn't make you vote to stay in, nothing will.

 

Good grief that was terrible.

 

It started with some incomprehensidle jibberish about predicting football results and then when on to predict a early death awaits us all if we dare not vote to leave the EU. To cap it all the bare faced '£350m' lie made yet another unwelcome appearance!

 

I'd rather watch Big Brother - and that's saying summit.

[Whitey Grandad]

Good god, is anyone having the misfortune of watching the 'Vote Leave' election broadcast?! If this doesn't make you vote to stay in, nothing will.

 

'Election broadcast'? Is that what we're voting for?

[Batman]

Good grief that was terrible.

 

It started with some incomprehensidle jibberish about predicting football results and then when on to predict a early death awaits us all if we dare not vote to leave the EU. To cap it all the bare faced '£350m' lie made yet another unwelcome appearance!

 

I'd rather watch Big Brother - and that's saying summit.

 

I suspect many who are voting leave will say exactly the same about a remain broadcast

 

It is what it is

[Lord Duckhunter]

Me too. The Great British Public are not qualified to take such decisions. We have an overblown elected parliament and we pay them to sort out these sort of things. They shouldn't go running back to mummy every time that they have to make a decision. We didn't have a referendum when we declare war in 1939.

 

Despite being an outer , this is a coherent authentic argument . Prolly Toynbee claimed 3 years ago that leaving the EU would be such a disaster that the public should never get a vote because they may vote the "wrong " way , and we have a parliament to vote on such matters . If someone wants to leave the EU , put it in your manifesto and if you win a majority we're out . . Whilst totally disagreeing with her , it's a legitimate and coherent argument . What isn't , is the leader of " Remain' threatening to lead a leave campaign unless he gets fundememtall reform , and then jumping on the disaster bandwagon after getting **** all reform

[JackFrost]

I suspect many who are voting leave will say exactly the same about a remain broadcast

 

It is what it is

 

I'm voting leave and think it's terrible myself

[Batman]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/31/uk-voters-leaning-towards-brexit-guardian-poll-reveals

[van Hanegem]

I don't know for sure, but I would assume that David Mitchell actually speaks for a great many people. This is a hugely important decision that could end up swinging on the votes of xenophobes.

 

I wouldn't like the avarage Dutch politician to be responsible for these kind of decisions as it is clear they know as much about European politics etc. as the next fool. They're just being told by their political leaders how they should vote in parliament. Don't know if it's the same in the UK but I doubt it will be much different...

[Whitey Grandad]

We don't actually choose our politicians, that's all done by the parties. We are presented with a very short list and asked to put a cross against one of them.

[aintforever]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/31/uk-voters-leaning-towards-brexit-guardian-poll-reveals

 

That's just complete made up ******. It's just aimed at getting remain voters off their asses because the only way Brexit will win is if remain voters don't bother turning out. The media all love to paint a picture of a close contest because it keeps everyone interested in the news. Reports of a pointless refurendum with an inevitable conclusion doesn't sell papers.

[van Hanegem]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/31/uk-voters-leaning-towards-brexit-guardian-poll-reveals

 

From the Dutch news on tv I Understand that the outcome of this referendum will depend on the youngsters (below 35 years old and usually in the remain camp) to take the trouble to vote as the elderly (50 up and in the leave camp) will surely vote for leaving the EU. Looking at this forum this can't be true or the remain camp here is a lot younger than I assume...

[aintforever]

Are you advocating a vote to leave without any intention of actually leaving?

 

I think if the UK votes to leave on of two things will happen.

 

1. We will leave but do a deal to remain in the single market.

2. The UK government will go back to the EU and get some sort of reforms and there will be another refurendum.

 

Either is preferable to just voting in and giving the EU carte blanche to move towards a federal Europe.

[van Hanegem]

We don't actually choose our politicians, that's all done by the parties. We are presented with a very short list and asked to put a cross against one of them.

 

It's the same as in the Netherlands then, the parties get a certain amount of "seats" in the parliament depending on the amount of votes they get in the general election and they decide which politicians get a seat in parliament. I guess the only difference is that we have more than 20 political parties to choose from...

[buctootim]

It's the same as in the Netherlands then, the parties get a certain amount of "seats" in the parliament depending on the amount of votes they get in the general election and they decide which politicians get a seat in parliament. I guess the only difference is that we have more than 20 political parties to choose from...

 

Its not quite the same because you have, I think, proportional representation. Here we have an archaic system where votes for minority parties are effectively disregarded. Thats why we have endless ping pong between Tories and Labour.

[buctootim]

From the Dutch news on tv I Understand that the outcome of this referendum will depend on the youngsters (below 35 years old and usually in the remain camp) to take the trouble to vote as the elderly (50 up and in the leave camp) will surely vote for leaving the EU. Looking at this forum this can't be true or the remain camp here is a lot younger than I assume...

 

The young and educated are pretty much solidly remain while the old and um, less voluminously qualified, are leave. Every other group is pretty much split down the middle.

[John B]

I'm voting leave and think it's terrible myself

 

Would you be voting out if you found by doing so you would lose your job.

 

I have been fascinated by Economics for some time and just feel that after BREXIT North American and Asian companies will not be investing in the UK to create jobs.

 

But only time will tell as will the effect of a lower value of the pound on inflation and the balance of payments problem which may increase public and private debt significantly.

 

So I dont expect plain sailing if we leave

[Nolan]

Would you be voting out if you found by doing so you would lose your job.

 

I have been fascinated by Economics for some time and just feel that after BREXIT North American and Asian companies will not be investing in the UK to create jobs.

 

But only time will tell as will the effect of a lower value of the pound on inflation and the balance of payments problem which may increase public and private debt significantly.

 

So I dont expect plain sailing if we leave

I think we're in trouble for investment, in or out. The cost of emptying people in this country is crazy now with the living wage, the new pensions system etc.

 

We can counter this with certain low taxes now, but we can further counter this if we regain full control of what we can set certain vat rates or other taxes at.

[Batman]

If George Osborne tells us that pensions will go pop if we leave. I trust him, f'sure

 

 

[DuncanRG]

We don't actually choose our politicians, that's all done by the parties. We are presented with a very short list and asked to put a cross against one of them.

 

We choose from those who volunteer to run. It would be a pretty exhausting process otherwise!

[DuncanRG]

Despite being an outer , this is a coherent authentic argument . Prolly Toynbee claimed 3 years ago that leaving the EU would be such a disaster that the public should never get a vote because they may vote the "wrong " way , and we have a parliament to vote on such matters . If someone wants to leave the EU , put it in your manifesto and if you win a majority we're out . . Whilst totally disagreeing with her , it's a legitimate and coherent argument . What isn't , is the leader of " Remain' threatening to lead a leave campaign unless he gets fundememtall reform , and then jumping on the disaster bandwagon after getting **** all reform

 

Almost as if he said that to placate his backbenchers!

[Whitey Grandad]

Its not quite the same because you have, I think, proportional representation. Here we have an archaic system where votes for minority parties are effectively disregarded. Thats why we have endless ping pong between Tories and Labour.

 

Have you forgotten the Whigs?

[badgerx16]

Have you forgotten the Whigs?

So that's what BoJo has on his head !

[John B]

I think we're in trouble for investment, in or out. The cost of emptying people in this country is crazy now with the living wage, the new pensions system etc.

 

We can counter this with certain low taxes now, but we can further counter this if we regain full control of what we can set certain vat rates or other taxes at.

 

Setting VAT rates is not going to have much effect on investment which is key to the future economic well being of the economy.

 

If we had Government investment instead of austerity the future would not look so bleak economically

[Nolan]

Setting VAT rates is not going to have much effect on investment which is key to the future economic well being of the economy.

 

If we had Government investment instead of austerity the future would not look so bleak economically

The future would look horrendous as people's taxes would be sky high, you mean.

[Batman]

Stole this from comments on a "Stronger In" post on Facebook

 

EU in decline

 

Europe is in serious economic and demographic decline. It now only accounts for 19% of world GDP. By 2050, the figure will be 7% (Willem Buiter, Citigroup - March 2011). Even the European Commission itself admits that "Over the next ten to 15 years, 90% of world demand will be generated outside Europe." (Trade - Europa.eu). The EU Single Market, while still important, is of declining significance to us.

There is an unstoppable shift in economic power taking place away from Europe. The Commonwealth countries, including economic powerhouses such as India, Canada, Australia and Singapore, are already more economically significant than the 19 eurozone members (world economics.com - January 2013)

The EU population is ageing and will be in absolute decline by 2050, whereas over 60% of the Commonwealth's 2.2 billion citizens are under the age of 30 (thecommonwealth.org).

EU membership ties us to a declining economic block and holds us back from developing economic ties with more dynamic, faster-growing parts of the world.

 

Market access, not EU membership

 

The UK does not need to be in the EU to have access to the EU Single Market. Switzerland, Mexico, South Korea - altogether more than 50 other countries - trade with the EU through a free trade agreement (FTA). A further 73 nations are negotiating their own FTAs with Brussels (Europa.eu - February 2013). The claim that a 'business as usual' free trade agreement would not be on offer to the UK after we leave the EU is a blatant scare story.

As a signatory to the World Trade Organisation, an independent Britain would be protected from discriminatory high tariffs because of the Most Favoured Nation principle, one of the cornerstones of the WTO system. The WTO is rendering customs unions like the EU redundant by reducing tariff barriers across the world.

 

Exports go global

 

UK exports to the EU now represent less than 10% of British GDP and this is falling (Briefing Note 67, Global Britain - January 2011). An increasing majority of what we sell overseas goes to countries outside the EU (Economic Review, Office for National Statistics - July 2012)

Yet the EU's regulations are applied to all our firms regardless of whether they export to the EU Single Market or not. Brussels now accounts for approximately half of all our internal, national legislation (Research Paper 10/62 - House of Commons Library, October 2010).

 

Too slow, too remote

 

In the global era, it is vital that we can react speedily to changing events and take decisions that are in the interest of the UK economy. Our parliament needs to be able to modify or reverse laws that are detrimental to our enterprises and public sector bodies. If we stay in the EU, Brussels will ultimately make all the big economic decisions for us.

Britain now has only a 12.6% share of the votes in the Council of Ministers, 9.7% of the votes in the European Parliament and zero votes in the European Commission, which has the sole right to initiate EU laws. So we have very little opportunity to influence the laws they make. It therefore makes more sense for us to leave, accept the product regulations necessary to export into the Single Market (just as we do when selling our goods and services to all other economies), play a more direct role in influencing those regulations at the global level where they are increasingly made and decide for ourselves our own domestic legislation.

Out of the EU, we would be free of the Common Agricultural Policy that discriminates against producers in developing countries, would be able to determine our own trade policy and save £15 billion a year in payments to the EU budget

(Table 3.B, EU Finances 2012, HM Treasury - July 2012).

 

Integration will continue

 

Within the next three years, the EU will become even more politically centralised as Brussels acquires a range of new powers in a bid to save the euro.

Eurozone countries will then vote as a single bloc and be able to impose new job-threatening measures on the UK economy.

Our politicians must focus on developing our trading and political links to the Commonwealth and other faster developing parts of the world.

[Foxy]

Stole this from comments on a "Stronger In" post on Facebook

 

EU in decline

 

Europe is in serious economic and demographic decline. It now only accounts for 19% of world GDP. By 2050, the figure will be 7% (Willem Buiter, Citigroup - March 2011). Even the European Commission itself admits that "Over the next ten to 15 years, 90% of world demand will be generated outside Europe." (Trade - Europa.eu). The EU Single Market, while still important, is of declining significance to us.

There is an unstoppable shift in economic power taking place away from Europe. The Commonwealth countries, including economic powerhouses such as India, Canada, Australia and Singapore, are already more economically significant than the 19 eurozone members (world economics.com - January 2013)

The EU population is ageing and will be in absolute decline by 2050, whereas over 60% of the Commonwealth's 2.2 billion citizens are under the age of 30 (thecommonwealth.org).

EU membership ties us to a declining economic block and holds us back from developing economic ties with more dynamic, faster-growing parts of the world.

 

Market access, not EU membership

 

The UK does not need to be in the EU to have access to the EU Single Market. Switzerland, Mexico, South Korea - altogether more than 50 other countries - trade with the EU through a free trade agreement (FTA). A further 73 nations are negotiating their own FTAs with Brussels (Europa.eu - February 2013). The claim that a 'business as usual' free trade agreement would not be on offer to the UK after we leave the EU is a blatant scare story.

As a signatory to the World Trade Organisation, an independent Britain would be protected from discriminatory high tariffs because of the Most Favoured Nation principle, one of the cornerstones of the WTO system. The WTO is rendering customs unions like the EU redundant by reducing tariff barriers across the world.

 

Exports go global

 

UK exports to the EU now represent less than 10% of British GDP and this is falling (Briefing Note 67, Global Britain - January 2011). An increasing majority of what we sell overseas goes to countries outside the EU (Economic Review, Office for National Statistics - July 2012)

Yet the EU's regulations are applied to all our firms regardless of whether they export to the EU Single Market or not. Brussels now accounts for approximately half of all our internal, national legislation (Research Paper 10/62 - House of Commons Library, October 2010).

 

Too slow, too remote

 

In the global era, it is vital that we can react speedily to changing events and take decisions that are in the interest of the UK economy. Our parliament needs to be able to modify or reverse laws that are detrimental to our enterprises and public sector bodies. If we stay in the EU, Brussels will ultimately make all the big economic decisions for us.

Britain now has only a 12.6% share of the votes in the Council of Ministers, 9.7% of the votes in the European Parliament and zero votes in the European Commission, which has the sole right to initiate EU laws. So we have very little opportunity to influence the laws they make. It therefore makes more sense for us to leave, accept the product regulations necessary to export into the Single Market (just as we do when selling our goods and services to all other economies), play a more direct role in influencing those regulations at the global level where they are increasingly made and decide for ourselves our own domestic legislation.

Out of the EU, we would be free of the Common Agricultural Policy that discriminates against producers in developing countries, would be able to determine our own trade policy and save £15 billion a year in payments to the EU budget

(Table 3.B, EU Finances 2012, HM Treasury - July 2012).

 

Integration will continue

 

Within the next three years, the EU will become even more politically centralised as Brussels acquires a range of new powers in a bid to save the euro.

Eurozone countries will then vote as a single bloc and be able to impose new job-threatening measures on the UK economy.

Our politicians must focus on developing our trading and political links to the Commonwealth and other faster developing parts of the world.

 

The weakness of this argument is saying that somehow it's a choice between trading with the EU or the rest of the world. I'd imagine it would not be beyond the bounds of human ingenuity to do both.