The EU - Superstate or Free Trade Partner? We Can Leave.
EU leaders are determined on political union. This is clear from the way the Lisbon Treaty and the Constitution are being driven through, ignoring their rejection by popular votes in Ireland, France and Holland. Polls show that almost no-one in the UK wants political union, and more and more want us to leave. The politicians tell us that leaving the EU is unthinkable. They are wrong.
We can leave the EU, and have a free trade agreement with them. We would prosper outside as a free and independent country, trading with every part of the world, as we have always done.
EU Leaders are Determined on Political Union
EU supporters claim it can be reformed. They don't see that the EU cannot turn its back on the basic principle on which it has worked from the start - "ever-closer union".
Too many political reputations have been based on unquestioning support for the EU. Too many vested interests do too well out of it. Political union is wanted by the politicians of Europe, but not by its people, and certainly not by the British people.
Why the politicians are so determined is an interesting question. Is it socialism by the back door, a lucrative retirement home for discredited politicians, or a yearning for a post-democratic age, without all that annoying accountability?
If we stay in the EU, we will eventually be dragged into a political union few of us want. It is inevitable that we leave, sooner or later.
The British Don’t Want Political Union – or the EU
Polls on the European Union show that more and more British people want to leave the EU. In a YouGov poll commissioned in June 08 by Open Europe, 24% said "the UK should leave the EU altogether" while a further 38% said that "The UK should stay in the single market but pull out of the other political elements of the EU" - ie 62% were against membership of the EU as it stands. Any advantages once thought to derive from EU membership are now far outweighed by ever-increasing disadvantages. Few of us are enthusiastic about keeping 54,000 Brussels bureaucrats in luxury, or paying an extra £10 a week in higher food costs because of the CAP. We could make much better use of that money ourselves.
The EU Admits it Faces Economic Decline
 All forecasts predict economic decline for the EU - this chart is from the European Commission itself. The single market and the euro have failed to boost EU trade, jobs and economic growth, according to a devastating report from an official French think-tank, which includes 40 of France's best-known economists. "Economic Policy and Growth in Europe"* was published in 2006 by the Conseil d'Analyse Economique, chaired by Prime Minister de Villepin. It says "economic integration has stagnated and no longer promotes growth. The Euro's creation has not produced the knock-on benefits expected... The inability of the EU to revive the economy turns investment away”
This damning verdict comes from the most ardent pro-EU country, which has imposed its will in countless EU negotiations.
Free Trade with Europe – and with the World
If we left the EU, we could negotiate a free trade agreement – what most of us want. Why should they refuse? We buy more from them than they buy from us – our trade deficit with the EU is over £3bn every month. They already have free trade agreements with countries as diverse as Switzerland and Mexico – why not with us?
Trade barriers have come down across the world – trading blocs are now much less important. We have the fifth largest economy in the world - not much smaller than China's (which recently overtook us in size).
- We have traded worldwide with great success for centuries.
- We have excellent contacts with up-and-coming regions like India and China, and with the US.
Do we want to shackle ourselves to a declining Europe, or go where the opportunities are? Three quarters of our overseas investment each year is outside Europe. British businessmen may talk about Europe, but they invest their money where they see growth and profit - outside the EU.
Other countries do very well outside the EU.
- Switzerland, one of the richest countries in the world, is surrounded by EU countries, and trades with them far more than we do. They are staying outside and keeping the Swiss franc, a strong currency which serves them well.
- Norway flourishes outside the EU, despite grim warnings from their politicians of dire consequences if they failed to vote to join.
- Countries as diverse as Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and India all have smaller economies than ours, yet all manage somehow to trade with the EU and the world without being in the EU.
Are we so uniquely weak and useless that we cannot do the same?
They say we must have a voice in how the EU sets its rules. Why? The Americans and Japanese have no say in our rules and regulations, and we have none in theirs. It doesn't seem to stop them trading with us.
A country’s size has no relation to its prosperity - the four richest countries in the world are Norway, Switzerland, the US and Japan. The EU is large, but old-fashioned, bureaucratic, corrupt and inefficient. It still thinks Government knows best. We learned the hard way that it does not.
Positive Benefits of Leaving the EU
A free trade agreement with the EU gives us all the advantages of EU membership, and none of the disadvantages. Leaving the EU would:
- Save us over £7 billion payments into the EU budget every year, plus the estimated £50bn annual net cost to the UK economy
- Let us control our own borders and set our own immigration rules.
- Reduce the cost of food, and let British farmers meet market needs by growing what they want. This would directly benefit our poor, who spend more of their income on food.
- Give us back control over fishing in our 200 mile territorial waters, and revive our fishing industry.
- Abolish over 100,000 pages of EU regulations, which hamper our businesses and rule our lives.
- Let us help the Third World with trade and aid in our own way - far better than the EU does.
- Eliminate the EU threat to our legal safeguards and the rights of the individual.
- Restore our right to govern ourselves.
Of Course we Can Leave - our Parliament is Sovereign
We can leave the EU, because no UK Government can bind its successor. We are subject to EU rules only because UK legislation says that we are. Statutes are passed through Parliament to implement each EU treaty. These statutes require UK judges to have regard to EU law in making their judgements.
Repeal this UK legislation, and we are free. EU law no longer applies to us. The debate with the EU would be about how best to manage our leaving, not whether we can leave.
We don't have to pay anything to leave. In fact we will stop paying into the EU budget – every year.
We Can Leave the European Union - and Still Trade Successfully with Them
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