Staying “safe” inside a common external tariff may seem the best option. But the reality is that we are paying on average 8% higher than world market prices for our goods and services. EU trade negotiations have not benefitted UK industries in the way that they have France and Germany: they have tended to marginalise British interests. We are not Denmark or Belgium. We are a world-leading nation, in industry, in commerce, in technology, in mercantile trading. We will do better on our own. Will we be worse off or better off by leaving? 0
When we joined the Common Market in 1972 we were in a poor state economically. But Britain today is a very different animal. We are the world’s fifth largest economy, and the eighth largest manufacturer. UK is the world’s second largest financial centre behind the US, ahead of China and Japan. In “soft power” and global influence we are second only to the US. The EU was useful forty years ago, but not any longer. Surely the EU is the source of our prosperity? 0
We can still remain committed to our neighbours in Europe. We can leave the Eurocrats of Brussels without saying goodbye to our friends in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the rest of the continent. We will still want to do business with them and they with us. Won’t we just end up like Norway – all pay and no say? o
Our aircraft will still fly after Brexit (70% of all European traffic across the North Atlantic is controlled by UK air traffic control – they need us more than we need them, in the air). And international standards are made by UK and other countries through ISO, UN and other global organisations The EU has neither a seat nor a voice in standards–making – it cuts and pastes regulations we make at global level. Isn’t leaving risky? Isn’t it safer to stay? Will planes still fly? What about the £? o
What about warnings of experts? The Treasury? The Bank of England? The International Monetary Fund? All produced reports warning of dire consequences of a Leave vote, yet the UK’s economy is growing in strength not diminishing. Democracy is based on the idea that ordinary people know what’s in their best interests whether or not they have a degree in economics. Studies have proved that idea correct. How can Joe Public decide to leave when the experts say it’s foolish? o
Leave voters have been depicted as racist or xenophobic towards immigrants. The reality is that Britain urgently needs well–qualified experienced professionals in many fields, especially doctors and nurses. But we need to choose ourselves who we admit. And we want to choose from the talent pool of the whole world not just Europe. Some politicians, such as David Cameron, have been led to make completely false statements about immigration. UK’s leading university, UCL, has researched the real facts. What about Immigration? Don’t we need them? o We are not Norway. We are not Canada. We are not Switzerland. We are the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Let’s stop bickering and start acting like a world leader.
