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The EU is Good for Britain

Posted on 22nd October 2015

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The discussion about Britain's membership of the EU is starting to heat up, with positions and facts coming from people other than politians, at last.

As described in this BBC report, the Bank of England has published the results of their analysis. Their conclusion is that there are negative and positive effects from the UK's membership of the European Union, but that on balance, membership is beneficial for Britain.

Also, recently, the CBI (the Confederation of British Industry, the main representative of employers and industry in Britain - more information here and here) have finally climbed off the fence regarding the UK's EU membership (as reported by the BBC here). They say "... there are problems with EU membership but that these are greatly outweighed by the benefits..." Most of the CBI's members want to stay within the 28-country EU.

These two pro-European positions really should not surprise anyone. The economic benefits of membership are significant, and will continue to grow. Just bear in mind what Britain's modern economy is based upon: it is no longer a major exporter of agricultural products; it ceased to be a net exported of minerals centuries ago; the contribution from manufacturing is negligible; Brits are mainly exporters of services. Services covers a multitude of different things, but service exports from Britain are dominated by financial services (banking, insurance and investment services). The single European market for goods has existed for many years, but the single European market for financial services is really only now being constructed, and once it is, Britain will really start to reap rewards. Do we really want to exit the EU just as it starts to pay-off?

Also, bear in mind that a lot of financial services business flows through Britain because it is seen around the world as a gateway to European markets: a business friendly, English speaking channel to invest in the EU. Stopping that flow of business would really be a case of cutting off our noses to spite our faces.

There is a general perception, in continental Europe and in Britain, that Britain is a reluctant member of the EU. As a Brit living in continental Europe, I agree. This reluctance is analysed in more detail in this report in The Economist. Euro-sceptics abound, and there are news stories almost every day about the interference from Brussels in how the UK is run. The Economist suggests that Britain has it pretty good in the EU: "That Britain has the least-regulated labour market and second-least-regulated product market in Europe. The most damaging measures, such as planning restrictions and the new living wage, are home-grown". This means that "Brexit" will not solve all Britain's problems.

I am sure that virtually every reader knows that politicians cannot be trusted. So why are people so surprised by the suggestion that British policians are being "economical with the truth" when it comes to where the blame lies for Britain's troubles? It was a tried and tested technique for despotic regimes around the world (The Soviet Union, Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran, to name but a few) to divert attention and blame onto external players and away from themselves; if it works for despots, why not for mainstream politicians?

Time to stop complaining about the EU gravy train that Britain is on, and get ready to make the most of the next course.