[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by Osem

Yes, judging by some of the comments being made you wouldn't think the UK was a large net contributor to the EU. We need to get out.

If we stop giving £19bn to EU we can pay for 200 hospitals
Brits scrimp as membership of the EU leaves us shackled to an economic corpse, says MEP

To put it another way, during the last Parliament our EU taxes soaked up more than twice as much as we saved through the whole austerity programme.

It’s true that some of this cash is spent in Britain. Around half of what we hand over dribbles back to us.

But it isn’t spent on things we’d choose ourselves. A lot of it goes on advertising the EU. Some goes in grants to big landowners through the Common Agricultural Policy.

A chunk goes to professional associations, charities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the hope that it’ll make them back Brussels.

What does Britain get in return? Amazingly, our £19billion buys us membership of the only stagnant trade bloc in the world.

North America will grow by three per cent this year, Africa by 4.5 per cent, Asia by five per cent. But the Eurozone, after six years of flat-lining, will grow by less than one per cent.

As long as we’re in the EU, we cannot sign independent trade deals with booming countries such as India, Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand, which are among our oldest friends.

No one is suggesting we give up on our trade with Europe, only that we lift our eyes to more distant horizons. You don’t have to be in the EU to be part of the European common market.

The European free trade area stretches from Iceland to Turkey, including EU and non-EU states alike, with only Russia and Belarus non-participants.

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