BRITAIN would flourish as an international trading nation outside the economic shackles of the European Union, a leading business expert said last night.
Disputing the key argument of Euro-enthusiasts that quitting the EU would wreck the UK’s trade prospects, economist Ruth Lea said that independence from Brussels meddling would boost the country’s import and export markets.
And she pointed to the success of affluent nations such as Switzerland and Norway that have successfully negotiated free-trade deals with dozens of other countries while staying outside the EU.
“We have to kill the myth that British trade would be damaged by leaving the EU. It is piffle,” said Ms Lea, who is economic adviser at the Arbuthnot Banking Group.
She said a Britain freed from Brussels control could continue to trade with European countries while forging into new markets in Asia, America and beyond.
“If we left the EU, we could negotiate our own special trade deals with countries such as China, India, the US, Canada and New Zealand. We would be able to negotiate our own trade deals, which is something we haven’t been able to do since 1973. At that time, few people understood quite how much we were giving up.”
Ms Lea’s experience as an economist in the City of London told her that much of Britain’s business was already done outside the EU.
“The City of London is a global business,” she said. “And our manufacturers, too, have got to think more in the world outside the European Union.”
And she dismissed the argument put forward by many EU supporters that Britain’s exit would lead to trade with Europe collapsing.
“The idea that if we left Europe, then Mercedes Benz would suddenly stop selling cars to us is absurd.
“Trade will happen. Britain is still an affluent nation with a large population, and Europeans will still want to trade with us.
“Of course, we would need to be able to trade with Europe,” she said. “Even though Europe is an increasingly less important part of the world, Europe is important to us for trade.”
Ms Lea pointed out that Switzerland and Norway had flourished in the European Free Trade Association, a free-market enterprise zone with far less regulation than the EU.
While the Swiss faced higher duty costs as a result of being outside the EU, the overall financial impact was far less than the multi-billion annual cost of EU membership.
Ms Lea said the widespread claim that the EU represented an international free-trade zone was a misunderstanding.
“The single market means heavy regulation,” she said. “People think the single market is a free-trade area, but it isn’t.
“It’s all about harmonisation of regulation.”
Trade figures suggest that EU nations consistently buy more British exports than British consumers buy from the EU. That has led some critics to conclude that EU states “need us more than we need them”.
In 2007, the UK had a £40billion trade deficit with the other 27 member states, including £19billion with Germany.
Critics have also disputed the claim that Britain quitting the EU would lead to millions of job losses in the UK.
The think tank Global Vision has estimated that while three million British jobs are dependent on trade with EU nations, nearly four million jobs in other EU states are dependent on trade with Britain.
It means EU exporters – and Governments – are unlikely to want any cuts in trade with Britain, suggesting the country can leave the union without losing trading partners.
Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein all benefit from the EU single market despite not being members of the union.
As members of the European Economic Area, they are able to benefit from a lack of trade tariffs without having to sign up to a welter of EU regulation.
Some commentators believe that Britain could negotiate a similar status, remaining in the EEA while quitting the EU.
As an EU outsider Switzerland has negotiated trade deals with EU member states. And evidence is growing that businesses are frustrated with ever-increasing levels of Brussels red tape.
A recent survey of 1,000 company chief executives by the Open Europe think tank found that 54 per cent thought EU regulation “outweighed” the benefits of the single market.
And 60 per cent thought the Government should renegotiate the terms of Britain’s EU membership to include free trade only. Meanwhile, in a show of arrogance towards the British taxpayer, president of the European Council Herman von Rompuy last night failed to respond to telephone calls because he was preparing for a back-slapping event.
The Belgian was being awarded the “Collar of Merit” by the Foundation of European Merit, headed by disgraced former European Commission head Jacques Santer.
In a show of self-congratulation, the Collar was also awarded to Manuel Barroso, European Commission president, Jerzy Buzek, Polish president of the Euro Parliament and Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg’s prime minister.
EURO MADNESS
- £350,000 for a dog fitness and rehabilitation centre that was never built. Plans included developing a hydrotherapy system to “improve dogs’ wellbeing”
- £4.5m for a fleet of limousines for Euro-MPs in Strasbourg. Green Party estimates already show that travelling between and maintaining the European Parliament’s two buildings in Strasbourg and Brussels already costs European taxpayers £170m
- £13,500 to Tyrolean farmers to boost their “emotional connection with the landscape.” They were expected to become “more aware of their emotional reactions to it compared to their prevailing rational economic ones.”
- £4,300 on a “Europe Horse” to promote the EU to German children. A booklet was produced chronicling the cartoon animal’s trip from Germany to Brussels, meeting various EU figures along the way
- £763,000 for a golf course, hotel and spa whose guests include German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The platinum membership fee for the club is 1,100 euros per year
No comments:
Post a Comment