At 03:02 09/05/2013, Pete Vincent wrote:
(PV) I read a discussion about this a little while ago, before Lawson's
comments. One person was contending that it would be economically
beneficial for the UK to leave the EU, as it currently has a net
outflow of funds to the continent. Another responded that a large
portion of that is trade deficit, and if it were to exit the EU,
it would lose it's tariff protection, . . . .
(KH) The irony here ( as always) is that tariffs don't actually protect a
country (that is, its balance sheet) over the longer term. They're usually
brought in when a sectional interest (business owners sometimes, trade
unions other times) "persuades" (!) a key legislator. EU tariffs can be
extremely variable -- from 1% to 70% or 80% (particularly against food
because of the political power of French farmers. Some of the most
delicious fruits in the world were only available to the rich for many
years. The average EU tariff against poor ACP countries [in Africa,
Caribbean, Pacific) is 6%, but 1.6% to the rest.)
(PV) and would presumably continue
to spend the money offshore, but paying higher prices, so it
should find itself worse off. I don't know enough about it to
know what is the correct assessment.
(KH) Forty per cent of UK's exports go to the EU so I would guess (repeat,
guess) that leaving the EU and facing its tariffs would knock this figure
back a little -- maybe to 30% or 35% -- or perhaps not much at all because
UK's biggest single export earner is financial services and is spread among
200 countries rather than just 27 of the EU). Our private schools,
colleges and universities, especially our 'Top Ten', earn a large tranche
from foreign students, mainly Chinese.
I must declare an interest here. I am against the European Union-type
super-nation-states except for specific institutions which are
European-wide in extent -- e.g. air pollution, control of fishing,
freshwater resources. Having said that my opinion is that leaving the EU
would make little difference. What we might lose are some exports we would
gain by the loss of the administrative costs it is presently causing us.
Keith
-Pete
On Tue, 7 May 2013, Keith Hudson wrote:
> The most powerful voice yet raised against UK's membership of the EU is
> revealed in an article in the Times today. This is the biggest banana
skin yet
> under PM Cameron and he's unlikely to hang onto his job for very much
longer.
>
> Former British finance minister calls for EU exit
>
>
>
<http://www.france24.com/en/files/imagecache/aef_ct_wire_image_lightbox/images/afp/photo_1367914642264-1-0.jpg?1367949668>
> Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson (left) and form
>
> Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson (left) and former French
> Finance Minister Edmond Alphandery(R) in Sao Paulo, Brazil 01 December
1999.
> Britain would enjoy a significant economic boost if it left the European
> Union, Lawson said in an article Tuesday which will fuel the debate about a
> referendum on British membership.
>
<http://www.france24.com/en/files/imagecache/aef_ct_wire_image_lightbox/images/afp/photo_1367915915201-1-0.jpg?1367949668>
> Former Conservative cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher, N
>
> Former Conservative cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher, Nigel Lawson
> attends the ceremonial funeral of British former prime minister Margaret
> Thatcher in St Paul's Cathedral in central London on April 17, 2013.
Britain
> would enjoy a significant economic boost if it left the European Union,
Lawson
> said in an article Tuesday which will fuel the debate about a referendum on
> British membership.
>
> AFP - Britain would enjoy a significant economic boost if it left the
European
> Union, former finance minister Nigel Lawson said in an article Tuesday
which
> will fuel the debate about a referendum on British membership.
>
> Writing in the Times, Nigel Lawson insisted that "the case for exit"
was now
> clear and urged Britain to sever its 40-year association with Brussels.
>
> "In my judgement the economic gains would substantially outweigh the
costs,"
> wrote Lawson, who was Margaret Thatcher's longest serving Chancellor of the
> Exchequer.
>
> Lawson, a leading senior member of the Conservative Party, said the
economic
> gains from a British exit "would substantially outweigh the costs".
>
> He said the EU had become a "bureaucratic monstrosity" and warned that the
> idea of "a federal European superstate" was "profoundly misguided" and
> "certainly not for us".
>
> Lawson, who voted to keep Britain in the bloc during a 1975 referendum,
also
> claimed that an exit would save Britain's valuable financial sector from a
> "frenzy of regulatory activism".
>
> His comments come days after Britain's eurosceptic and anti-immigration UK
> Independence Party (UKIP) scored resounding successes in local polls,
piling
> pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron.
>
> UKIP leader Nigel Farage confirmed that he would stand in Britain's next
> general election in 2015 as the party seeks to translate growing public
> support into seats in parliament at the expense of the three main political
> parties.
>
> Government ministers on Sunday rejected calls for Cameron to counter UKIP's
> rise by pushing through legislation for a referendum on EU membership
before
> 2015, instead of by late 2017 as he has promised.
>
> Lawson served in Thatcher's Tory government as finance minister between
1983
> and 1989, overseeing a huge rebalancing of Britain's economy through
> privatisations and deregulation.
>
> He now sits in the upper House of Lords after being made a life peer in
1992.
> (France 24 website
>
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