When Europe comes to the fore of politics in Britain, the polls shift in favour of staying, as they did after David Cameron’s speech. When it comes to the crunch, however, the voting public are too clever to turn away from our most valuable relationship.
Phillip Souta is the director of Business for New Europe
Nigel Lawson’s conversion to the UKIP agenda on the pages of the Times must have made Nigel Farage’s day.
It is undeniable that the two Nigels’ message on Europe is getting more of a hearing now than it has in the last ten years. In the same way that UKIP’s rise has caused commentators and the mainstream parties to show their spending plans do not stand up to scrutiny, the better off out camp is facing the same challenge. “Welcome to test cricket,” as John Major said.
For the last 40 years, the British people have always voted for parties in favour of our EU membership. Whilst those who support membership must continue to explain why, there is arguably a much heavier burden of proof on those who would take us out. Where is the evidence it would be good for us, and what are the alternatives.
The impact on British business
The argument is often put forward that the UK is a net contributor to the EU (equivalent to roughly £750 per household each year) and therefore makes us worse-off financially. That contribution gives us access to £11 trillion worth of economic activity and free trade which has generated around £3,300 per British household per year over the last 30 years. If we were to leave, we would no longer have unfettered access to the largest market in the world, and one that is on our doorstep. For the foreseeable future, approximately half of Britain’s trade will be with Europe.
The UK is home to large numbers of foreign companies who choose to locate here to avail of the EU market access that our membership provides. If we left, so would many of those companies.
Departure would also jeopardise the 49 per cent of foreign direct investment stock in the UK that comes from other EU countries, which was worth £465bn in 2009. British goods would incur significant import taxes (55 per cent in the case of dairy produce) to reach the EU market, making them less competitive. Half our corporation tax revenue from financial services would be at risk, and the possibility of the EU erecting non-tariff barriers to the free movement of services would jeopardise London’s place as a global financial centre.
Britain can ‘be like Norway’
A future outside the EU is of course conceivable for the UK, but it is not clear what it would look like. Those advocating withdrawal often mistakenly contend that the Norwegian or Swiss models could be adopted by the UK. Norway has a population of around 4.5 million and a GDP of around £320 billion. It also has a sovereign wealth fund presently worth in the region of £400 billion, set to rise to over £650 billion by 2020. It has this through its vast reserves of oil and gas. This is the equivalent of the UK having a wealth fund 25 per cent greater than our GDP – which we do not.
Only this week it has been announced that the Norwegian government is dipping into this fund in order to prop up its economy – this option would never be available to the UK. Therefore, Britain needs the EU more than Norway does.
Switzerland, for its part, is a unique case, politically and economically. It has taken two decades for Switzerland to sign around 120 bilateral agreements. The UK economy cannot be made to suffer while politicians hash out individual deals. Similarly, the proposition that the UK will leave the EU and then sign a free trade agreement, with no effect on our economy, is misguided in the extreme.
It would be many years before the UK is at a point where it could come to such an arrangement. The EU-US free trade agreement, for example, had subject to discussion for over a decade before both parties even entered formal discussions.
New trading partners can’t replace Europe
Meanwhile, Britain’s trading partnership with other large economies such as China and India will not prevent economic degradation. Both offer great opportunities, and while our current trade with these countries is large, it is much less than that which exists between Germany and China. Our trading potential with these economies is therefore greatly bolstered by coordinating with other EU members, and our negotiating position in any free trade talks is strengthened.
Other EU countries faced with the same EU rules are much better at exporting to emerging markets than we are. Germany’s exports to such economies have roughly doubled over the last ten years. If they can do it, why can’t we? Blaming the UK’s poor export performance on the EU is an easy out; there is no reason to believe it would be cured by leaving the EU.
Many advocates of leaving seem to believe reams of employment, safety and product regulations would evaporate on departure, somehow freeing the UK to push ahead in the global race. This is dangerously misleading. Everything we export into Europe would have to comply with the same rules as they currently do, except we would have no say. No UK government would suddenly abolish health and safety rules and maternity leave.
When Europe comes to the fore of politics in Britain, the polls shift in favour of staying, as they did after David Cameron’s speech. People are frustrated by perceived bureaucratic excesses – which, by the way, exist at local, regional and global levels as well – and often register that as a protest vote. When it comes to the crunch, the voting public are too clever to turn away from our most valuable relationship.
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14 Responses to “Blaming the EU is an easy way out. Leaving it would be bad for Britain”
Kevin Leonard
For the last 40 years, the British people have always voted for parties in favour of our EU membership…..
For the last 40 years there has been no alternative as the three mainstream parties are all of the same mind when it comes to Europe. Yes there are one or two who question membership but on the whole they are gagged by their party leadership “For the good of the nation”
Old Barusso himself confirmed just yesterday that total integration and rule by the none elected elite within Brussels is the aim of the EU and he confidently expects full power over all nations within the EU to be undemocratically handed over within the next 15-20 years.
The press have not helped either during the past 40 years constantly swaying left and right to get closer to whoever is in power and willing to sell their souls for a few extra copies regardless of the facts.
A referendum is needed and it is needed before the next elections due in 2015 so that all the cards can be laid on the table for the electorate to decide, unfortunately because the powers that be assume they will lose the argument they are unwilling to make the argument this is just another example of how undemocratic our political system has become.
Julian
My point is that just stating “we’ll lose our EU market” is not an argument. It seems more plausible that we wouldn’t lose the market as countries that export to us would have more to lose than we would. If there’s an argument that we would lose that market, I’d like to see it debated.
jim Rafferty
As a businessman, Mr Souta ought to know that if you have goods or services for sale, you will find a buyer as long as you provide quality and a reasonable price that said buyer is willing and able to pay, regardless of which international organisations like the EU your government belongs to or doesn’t belong to. Money talks, [political/bureaucratic] bullshit walks.
I don’t know how much of our money the British state pays to be in the EU (I lost trust in the political/media classes a long time ago), but I don’t believe anyone who says we need to be in the EU in order to gain access to the other member states’ markets, for the reason stated above.
Oli
For some people the argument on ‘in or out’ is not a rational one. I know a number of people that have said that they would rather leave the EU and be financially worse off than stay. I am not sure what value they would agree to stay in, but this is one of those issues where rational consideration and decisions based on evidence will play second fiddle to emotion.
Jon Davies
The debate on EU membership is just starting and hopefully it will be an informed debate.
I am glad Europe argues over red tape from Brussels rather than going to war as it historically has done. I know that some people will say this was in olden days and we are much smarter and more sophisticated now. I hope they are right so lets hear about how we evolve our relationships with our neighbours and build some common values and understanding.
Holding the EU to account for what it does (both good and bad) is a starting point in the debate.