November 13th, 2013.
The EU: Do we stay or do we go?
It’s been a hot topic with governments and businesses lately, whether it is worth staying with the EU or if the UK should just throw in the towel. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has recently released a statement declaring that not only should we continue being part of the European Union, but it is ‘overwhelmingly’ better for business. Here are the reasons given:
Bringing in revenue
A lot of the talk surrounding the EU membership is heavily focused on the money aspect of the partnership, so just how much is it worth to the UK? The CBI believe that membership is worth between £62-78 billion every year, that works out at around £3,000 a year for every household in Britain. While that’s only 4 or 5% of the UK’s annual output it is a substantial amount of money to be losing, especially as the country is pushing more and more for greater economic regrowth.
Reforms not refusal
Instead of refusing to be a part of the EU, the government need to change the way in which the UK work with it. This means breaking down the barriers for eCommerce and having a re-focus in the work that is undertaken by EU commissioners. The UK would benefit much more from being in a reformed EU, as it would retain its influence within the network which would be completely lost if it was to opt-out of the UK. David Cameron has already made a statement saying that the EU needs to allow Britain to change and not be bound by every decision it makes.
Can it change?
David Cameron claims the EU needs to change its current policies otherwise more countries will start thinking about leaving. The plan to leave the EU have been regarded as reckless and foolish by the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls. He argues that although there is no doubt that the EU needs reform, leaving it would be deeply damaging to Britain’s economy – he followed this saying that Mr Cameron needs to look at what’s best for Britain, not just the narrow view of his political party.
Slow and steady
Sticking with the EU doesn’t mean that we will see a sudden improvement in the economy, but instead we can expect to see a slow and steady recovery. Sticking with the EU will give international companies more confidence in Britain and make it a more attractive place for them to invest. The CBI argue that by having a continued interest in the EU we will see a greater amount of investors to help continue and improve Britain’s economy.
Being realistic
If Britain was to leave the EU it would cause quite a lot of disruption and could sink the current European open market with the UK, meaning that as a country it would be losing billions in trading profit. There would be no opting in on some things and out on others, if Britain was to leave that would be it – a clean break with an introduction of import and export tariffs that will end up costing millions every year.