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There is no doubt that the forthcoming referendum on Brexit is of the greatest political significance. For me, it is a choice between remaining in an increasingly dysfunctional EU, as it struggles with the migration crisis, ponders further Eurozone integration and worries about sluggish growth, or leaving and thus regaining control over our future. There are no prizes for guessing that I shall vote to leave.
There are two key articles in the Lisbon Treaty that favour a successful trade agreement. Article 8 talks about “a special relationship with neighbouring countries, aiming to establish an area of prosperity and good neighbourliness”. Article 50 concerns a Member State’s withdrawal. It specifies that the EU “shall negotiate and conclude an agreement… taking account of the framework for its future relationship with the Union”. In other words, the Lisbon Treaty outlines both the “mood music” and the mechanism of withdrawal. It would surely be honoured.Looking ahead, Brexit would enable a major competitiveness boost to the British economy. First, we could repeal or amend those regulations associated with the Single Market which businesses find most irksome. Social and employment legislation and unhelpful financial regulations (on bankers’ bonuses, for example) spring to mind rather than those product regulations necessary for trade (which in any case tend to be agreed internationally). For this reason, attempts to remain within the Single Market by reapplying for European Economic Area (EEA) membership on Brexit (the “Norwegian option”) strikes me as totally misplaced. For many businesses, the Single Market brings more costs than benefits. And a decade ago Gunter Verheugen (then EU commissioner for enterprise and industry) released data on compliance costs which implied that the costs of the Single Market could outweigh the benefits by a ratio of at least two-to-one.The Single Market still tends to be perceived in the UK as a free trade area, with regulations added as a rather tiresome afterthought. But this is to profoundly misunderstand the Single Market, which was designed to be a harmonised (regulated) market from its inception. Regulation is in the Single Market’s DNA, and we would be better off without it.Second, we could negotiate our own trade deals, on purely commercial grounds, with those countries with which the EU has yet to conclude any agreement, including the US, India, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The necessary realignment of trade from the EU to the world’s more buoyant growth areas, already occurring, would be given a boost. Membership of the EU’s Customs Union precludes any such negotiations.Third, we could agree a more pro-business immigration policy which does not discriminate between EU and non-EU nationals. The current policy of the “freedom of movement of people”, a pillar of the Single Market, clearly favours EU nationals.And finally, we would no longer be a major contributor to EU funds, a useful potential addition to the Treasury’s coffers. Our contribution for 2015-16 will be nearly £11bn, net of rebate and public sector receipts.I am an optimist about Britain’s economic future. But I would be even more optimistic in the event of Brexit, after which we would control our own business legislation, trade deals and immigration policy. Britain would flourish.
http://www.cityam.com/234438/ignore-eu-scaremongers-why-britain-would-thrive-post-brexit
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