Why Britain should leave the EU

The debate of whether in the EU referendum on 23 June 2016 we should vote remain in the EU or to leave is beginning to heat up. This blog post is one of two posts on the matter this one focuses solely on why Britain should leave the EU. To see the post on Why Britain should remain the EU please click here, please note these posts are designed be read in either order, if you have already read this post you can skip this introduction. The reason why I have decided to do two posts is primarily not to have to negate statements to put forward the view of the other side which may show bias towards one side or the other which is common in many comparison pieces I have read. The format of both posts will be a mirror, focusing on the topics of fees vs rebates, trade, investment, immigration, security, jobs, health care, sovereignty, and Britain in the wider world.

By creating two posts there will be a great deal of overlap as the same factual information will apply, however, this will demonstrate that depending on what side of the debate you sit your view is shaped. I am taking this approach as it is as if two people drew an elephant and one did from the front and the other from behind, the two drawings would be completely different but they could both say it was the same elephant!

These posts are not designed to give an overview of how the EU works, this itself would be a massive post and there are far more comprehensive and researched pieces available than I could produce due to blogging being my hobby. If you would like more information on the EU I would recommend to search on the internet for this, Wikipedia, is a good factual starting point although should always be approached with caution but will give context to what these blog posts are discussing.

Fees vs rebates

Britain’s membership of the EU for 2015 was £16bn for which we received £4.5bn worth of spending directly from the EU. This figure does sound like a lot of money, however, compared to the £250bn spent on health in 2013/14. This means that EU membership costs 6.4% of what the health does and the difference is 4.6%, in terms of what a politician would say, for every £1 spent on health we spend just over 6p on EU membership and get nearly 2p back. These are, however, funds that are controlled by Brussels to use and distribute as they wish, we cannot change where the funds go to and they can be used on projects that do not have any impact on the British people but yet they are the funds we have paid our taxes towards.

Trade

Approximately 50% of our trade is done within the EU, this is only 28 other countries. If you think about it with a wide spectrum of other countries around the world it may seem as if we are ignoring potential trading agreements because we can trade with the EU without needing to negotiate new trade treaties. If we focused a great deal more on trade across the globe we could open up the UK to more variety and cheaper goods manufactured in countries with a weaker currency than our own. Trade builds bridges and helps economies across the globe, if we stopped being so Eurocentric we could tap into developing economies to bring goods to them which would assist with ensuring those with little had access to a huge market such as the UK to trade with. This would also assist in reducing the aid budget as by using trade the countries would receive trade rather than funds, although we could not remove international aid entirely as it is used to international crises and for those most in need.

Investment

There is always the worry that without the ease of trading with Europe and free movement of people that investment would be massively affected by leaving the EU, however, developments in science and technology the EU is falling behind other nations. As all of the EU was affected by the 2008 economic world crash many of the other nations’ economies are still stagnant how can they invest with no surplus funds to use. Surely as a nation that is still recovering from the crash we should turn our money from the EU and help our own nation by spending funds on British projects which have seen many cuts over the years.

Immigration

Europe is an open door for anyone who wishes to move to the UK to do so as and when they choose. There is no way of ensuring that all who come to live in the UK are able to fill any job shortfalls which we may have and allow those to come in with trades for which the job market is saturated already. There is already a shortage of housing already in the UK and mass immigration is not helping the situation, if we could select who came into the country (which is a luxury enjoyed by Australia and the USA) we can make sure that we only have the people we need entering the country and ensuring that they are located to places we need them most.

Security

If we were to leave the EU we would be able to fully screen all people coming into the country and not just those from outside the EU. We rely heavily on the countries on the peripheries of the EU to ensure that people who are in the EU and travelling to the UK have the right to do so. If we left the EU, surely the European Arrest Warrant would still be available to us to help stop terrorism, it wouldn't automatically mean that just because we were no longer an EU member that we wouldn't be allowed access as this would reduce its effectiveness across the EU. This would allow us greater autonomy to police our borders which is surely a right that any sovereign state should be able to enjoy.

Jobs

Unemployment in the UK stands at around 5% which is at the lowest level in a decade, however, those who are unemployed are still without a job and are relying on the state to ensure that they are able to eat, heat their homes and sleep securely in their home at night. With benefit cuts left right and centre it is more vital than ever to ensure that every penny able to be earnt is done so. With the number of immigrants who are willing to do the jobs for less and undercut UK workers it is often an uphill struggle for Britons to get a job which they need to feed their families and heat their homes.

Health care

Britain is a desirable place to be by many as it offers free health care which is something that many other countries do not seem to understand the concept of. From birth to death we have an unrivalled health care, which at the point of need it does not matter whether you have money or not you are able to get your care free of charge. It is also possible for immigrants and those visiting to receive treatment free of charge, surely if their country would not be willing to offer this service to us if we lived in their country why should they receive it in the UK? The NHS is stretched to breaking point and is unable to fund all treatment for those in the UK, surely this would help us to ensure that people weren’t moving to the UK to exploit our health care.

Sovereignty

Britain is an independent sovereign nation, Britain itself understands what its people need and can legislate accordingly without interference from Brussels. The more treaties that are created give ever more power to Brussels and we obediently sign on the dotted line after making a fuss about it for a while. We are being drawn into a federal Europe right under our noses and nobody is standing up to say no, we need to leave the EU before it is too late.

Britain in the wider world

Britain does not need the EU to stand in the world, through the Commonwealth and our relationship with the US we are a respected power in our own right. As a nation we are a part of NATO and attend the G8 (or whatever number they chose) on a regular basis, Britain is already included and we do not need the EU to give us a voice within these bodies. People around the world know where Britain is and places like the USA are jealous about our long history which stretches back into the foggy distance of time. We don’t need the EU to define who we are or hold our hand during negotiations.

Conclusions

If we left the EU there would not be a lot of change other than we can bring back the power to Britain where we can ensure people in Britain are helped without needing to offer handouts to other EU countries by the membership fees. There are many independent nations across the world who are not governed outside their own borders so why should this be the case for Britain. Switzerland and Norway are European countries who exist happily outside the EU so with all the power that the UK has why can’t we take the plunge and leave the EU and make our own way in the world as we have done for centuries before the EEC and EU were formed?

If you have not already read the second of this blog series on why Britain should remain in the EU, please click here. I hope these two blog post help you decide on one of the biggest decisions that Britain will have to make on Europe since it decided to join the EEC in 1973, and voted in the 1975 referendum to stay in the EEC by 67.2% to 32.8% opposed. When you make up your mind please try to avoid propaganda leaflets published by the political groups which represent the in and out campaigns as they are trying to persuade you to agree with them and in the limited space they have will gloss over anything that may put their argument into doubt.