Decline of Britain since 1973 EEC & EU as 'soft-fascist' German cartel Tony Gosling, Pippa Jones Talk Radio Europe - 26Feb16 No single market We are meant to be operating under the bloc's Single Market mechanism as an EU member. The EU describes it as "one territory without any internal borders or other regulatory obstacles to the free movement of goods and services." It's basically meant to stimulate competition and trade, improve efficiency, and helps cut prices. We are meant to operate as one. Basically, it only works if all countries are identical and work as a hive, like the Borg in Star Trek. That sounds like a Utopian ideal, and it has not worked at all. At the beginning of September, my colleague Oscar Williams-Grut pointed out that the so-called Single Market has a massive problem – Germany. German manufacturing is a booming behemoth, while almost every other nation bar Greece is at some sort of low. Britain's manufacturing sector is not he same as it was back in 1950s, and we now depend a lot on imports and exports (I will come to this later). Greece's rebalancing towards exports has been achieved simply by imports collapsing. All you need to do is take one look at that country and realise there is nothing about that nation that is rebounding at the moment. At the mercy of Germany Concerns over the Single Market being a whole load of poppycock are more relevant than ever, especially since the eurozone debt crisis of 2009. First and foremost, even though we are meant to be part of one big unit, we have no fiscal union to address underperforming areas. In Britain, for example, London may generate greater amounts of wealth than certain regions in the country. If somewhere like Nottingham was struggling, the money is redistributed to pay for welfare or prop up the local economy. Infrastructure, like new railway lines, could be installed to link cities and create greater connection for people working or looking to expand business. In the EU, we don't have this. Just look at Greece and the sorry mess it is. Sure, we lend money and force them to gut their country from the inside out, but a loan is not a re-distribution of wealth. Countries that need to devalue their currency to spur exports can't. The bloc is not a "single" anything. Destroying national sovereignty Relinquishing national sovereignty sounds a lot like right-wing hooey, but having a look at how the EU has operated in the worst of times hasn't resolved any of these concerns. Sovereignty is meant to be when a state has the absolute power to govern itself, make, execute, and apply laws, and impose and collect taxes. Of course, being part of a union means we should all technically share that burden and have a say in what laws are enacted, while also making sure others aren't penalised to the advantage of other nations. It shouldn't be all bad. Take a look at Greece again. The country has teetered on the brink of collapse so many times, it might as well jump off the cliff. But it can't because it's stuck with loans it doesn't want, that seem near impossible for it to pay back. The one time it did show some semblance of sovereignty or power was at its referendum on the bailout. The public voted against the extremely harsh (and arguably necessary) conditions in exchange for emergency cash. And we all know how that turned out – an utterly pointless exercise. All that happened is that Greece wound up owing its creditors so much that they used it against them in their next round of negotiations. Renegotiations look impossible There are a few things that Britons are getting really tired of, and a growing mountain of examples to show how the UK doesn't really have much of a say in what happens within the bloc. Since 2010, the EU has introduced over 3,500 new laws affecting British business. Business for Britain highlighted in its report in June that the sheer volume of red tape that affects the UK is costing billions. "The British Chambers of Commerce has shown that the total cost of EU regulation is £7.6 billion ($12 billion) per year," said the report. "Since the Lisbon Treaty came into force in December 2009, it has cost British businesses £12.2 billion ($19.3 billion) (net) in extra regulation." Furthermore, Britain doesn't really as much of a say as I thought.change or go 4Business for Britain "The Commission proposes new laws in the EU, but the UK’s representation has declined dramatically and many officials are adamantly opposed to the sort of changes that the UK seeks," says the report. "When the UK joined the EU in 1973, we had 20% of the votes. Today we only have 9.5% of the votes. British MEPs voted against 576 EU proposals between 2009 and 2014, but 485 still passed and became law." http://uk.businessinsider.com/reasons-why-uk-leaving-the-eu-brexit-is-a-good-idea-2015-10

• published: 28 Feb 2016
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