Pros and cons of the UK leaving the EU

[VectraMan]

The priority for the first class EU countries is always going to be paying for the poor countries in the Eurozone.

FTFY

No matter how you look at it, any kind of trade agreement will lead to a certain amount of wealth transfer from the richer to the poorer nations. The alternative is protectionism, and that just makes everybody miserable. Do you want to drive a car made by British Leyland?

[DodgyAgent]

with independence we can choose to make ourselves poorer to get out of recession.

The only pro I can see to us leaving the EU is it will shut up the EU moaners.

What an extraordinary statement! what other way is there to get out of a recession>, or should we do what Greece, italy, Spain, Ireland and France do and simply keep borrowing until we go bust.

[scooterscot]

What an extraordinary statement! what other way is there to get out of a recession>.

Typical agent, wanting something for nothing.

Manufacturing powerhouses employing highly skilled technicians eat up recessions for breakfast.

[VectraMan]

What an extraordinary statement! what other way is there to get out of a recession>, or should we do what Greece, italy, Spain, Ireland and France do and simply keep borrowing until we go bust.

I thought we did.

My point (which you misquoted) was that it didn't work. Being out of the Euro didn't help us avoid the recession, and the recession for us was longer than for the Euro countries. Which makes the argument that we need our own currency so we can choose to devalue and boost exports a little weak (perhaps because it only works if your customers aren't also in the tulip at the same time).

Actually I think the best way out of recession is yes, to borrow and spend money on infrastructure etc. But that assumes you don't already have crippling debts from years of irresponsible spend-happy governments. Which after all is the real problem of Greece, Italy etc. and not being part of the Euro as the EU-haters will have you believe.

[swamp]

Leaving the EU now would be a bit pointless since the core 17 members are buggering off and forming a tighter Euro union. We are effectively in a club of about 8 countries, most of which are small and pointless. The task at hand is whether the UK can shape this outer union into something we've always wanted: a genuine unfettered free trade area.

[EternalOptimist]

Pros -
we will be free to make our own bed, which we will have to lie in on our own.
we will not have close formal links with spendthrift partners, so no obligations
we will be able to move quicker on our feet, vis a vis trading partners who are on the up
we wont have to get involved in things that are not in our interest

Cons -
We will lose clout, not being in a big trading bloc
Extrication would be costly and messy and politically painful (there are a lot of europhiles)
No one has explained which 'barmy eu laws' we would not have introduced any way

[sasguru]

Manufacturing powerhouses employing highly skilled technicians eat up recessions for breakfast.

You mean like Japan which has had a stagnant economy since about 1989?
Cretin.

[BlasterBates]

Too much made of leaving the EU will somehow magically make Britain more competitive and better. The pre-EU record of Britain is absolutely abysmal. By 1973 Britain had most of it's industry nationalised, the pound had been devalued several times, but to no avail, strikes were normal, people drove around in British Leyland cars, and many people lived in council housing squalor. Britain was basically heading for bankruptcy and did eventually go cap in hand to the IMF. All the competitive reforms were actually made while Britain was already a member of the EU.

In other words you can run your country well and competitively even if you're in the EU. There's no EU rule that forces Governments to waste money, and the EU contribution is tiny compared to the rest of the budget.

The "leave the EU" argument is just a populist argument to grandstand on.

[DodgyAgent]

Typical agent, wanting something for nothing.

Manufacturing powerhouses employing highly skilled technicians eat up recessions for breakfast.

Pooperscooper
Did you pick some of that "poop" up and pour it into your ear by mistake? or did you do it deliberately to up your IQ?

[DodgyAgent]

Too much made of leaving the EU will somehow magically make Britain more competitive and better. The pre-EU record of Britain is absolutely abysmal. By 1973 Britain had most of it's industry nationalised, the pound had been devalued several times, but to no avail, strikes were normal, people drove around in British Leyland cars, and many people lived in council housing squalor. Britain was basically heading for bankruptcy and did eventually go cap in hand to the IMF. All the competitive reforms were actually made while Britain was already a member of the EU.

In other words you can run your country well and competitively even if you're in the EU. There's no EU rule that forces Governments to waste money, and the EU contribution is tiny compared to the rest of the budget.

The "leave the EU" argument is just a populist argument to grandstand on.

The simple rule for running a proper economy is to marginalise socialist influence (in other words entitlement). The EU is now being run by unaccountable socialists obsessed with feathering their own nests instead of creating and encouraging businesses.