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98 Reasons To Stay In The EU: Benefits Of Membership For The UK

98 Reasons To Stay In The EU: Benefits Of Membership For The UK

With the Brexit deadline fast approaching and no deal in sight, we thought now might be a good time to take a look at 98 benefits of EU membership for the UK.

The Bank of England estimates that the fallout of a No Deal Brexit will be worse than the 2008 financial crisis. Needless to say this will likely be very bad for UK small businesses.

However, the UK can unilaterally revoke article 50 at any time to stop this madness.

Here 98 reasons why we should:

  1. Membership of the world’s largest trading bloc with over 500 million consumers, representing 23% of global GDP
  2. The UK has greater global influence as a member of the EU
  3. The EU provides a counterweight to the global power of the US, Russia and China
  4. With Trump in the White House the UK’s strongest natural allies are France, Germany and our other West European neighbours
  5. Tariff-free trade within the EU
  6. The abolition of non-tariff barriers (quotas, subsidies, administrative rules etc.) among members
  7. Participation in free trade agreements with Japan and Canada as an EU member
  8. The EU accounts for 44% of all UK exports of goods and services
  9. The EU accounts for 53% of all UK imports of goods and services
  10. Cheaper food and alcohol imports from continental Europe
  11. As a member of the EU the UK maintains a say in the shaping of the rules governing its trade with its European partners
  12. 3.1 million jobs in the UK are directly linked to exports to the EU
  13. Free movement of labour has helped UK firms plug skills gaps (translators, doctors, plumbers)
  14. Free movement of labour has helped address shortages of unskilled workers (fruit picking, catering)
  15. The Single Market has brought the best continental footballers to the Premier League
  16. The EU accounts for 47% of the UK’s stock of inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), worth over $1.2 trillion
  17. Access to the EU Single Market has helped attract investment into the UK from outside the EU
  18. No paperwork or customs for UK exports throughout the single market
  19. Price transparency and removal of commissions on currency transactions across the Eurozone
  20. FDI into the UK has effectively doubled since the creation of the EU Single Market
  21. The UK’s net contribution to the EU budget is around €7.3bn, or 0.4% of GDP (less than an eighth of the UK’s defence spending)
  22. No time consuming border checks for travellers (apart from in the UK)
  23. The City of London, as a global financial hub, has acted as a bridge between foreign business and the EU
  24. British banks and insurance companies have been able to operate freely across the EU
  25. Cornwall receives up to £750 million per year from the EU Social Fund (ESF)
  26. Structural funding for areas of the UK hit by industrial decline (South Wales, Yorkshire)
  27. Support for rural areas under the European Agricultural Fund for Regional Development (EAFRD)
  28. EU funding for infrastructure projects in the UK including £122 million for the “Midlands engine” project
  29. Financial support from the EU for over 3,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the UK
  30. EU funding for the British film industry
  31. EU funding for British theatre, music and dance
  32. EU funding for British sport, including football apprenticeships, tennis and rugby league
  33. Glasgow (1990) and Liverpool (2008) benefitted from being European capitals of culture, stimulating their local economies
  34. EU competition laws protect consumers by combatting monopolistic business practices
  35. Strict controls on the operations of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in the EU
  36. Human Rights protected under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
  37. The death penalty can never be reintroduced as it is incompatible with EU membership
  38. Minority languages such as Welsh and Irish are recognized and protected under EU law
  39. The right to reside in any EU member state
  40. The freedom to work in 28 countries without visa and immigration restrictions
  41. The mutual recognition of professional qualifications has facilitated the free movement of engineers, teachers and doctors across the EU
  42. The mutual recognition of educational diplomas
  43. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has standardized assessment of language proficiency across the EU
  44. The freedom to study in 28 countries (many EU universities teach courses in English and charge lower fees than in the UK)
  45. The Erasmus programme of university exchanges (benefitting 16000 UK students a year)
  46. The freedom to set up a business in 28 countries
  47. The ability to retire in any member state
  48. Pension transferability
  49. The right to vote in local and European Parliamentary elections if resident in any member state
  50. EU laws making it easier for British people to buy property on the continent
  51. The right to receive emergency healthcare in any member state (EHIC card)
  52. Consular protection from any EU embassy outside the EU
  53. The EU has played a leading role in combatting global warming (Paris 2015 climate change conference)
  54. Common EU greenhouse gas emissions targets (19% reduction from 1990 to 2015)
  55. Improvements in air quality (significant reductions in sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides) as a result of EU legislation
  56. Reductions in sewage emissions
  57. Improvements in the quality of beaches and bathing water
  58. EU standards on the quality of drinking water
  59. Restrictions on landfill dumping
  60. EU targets for recycling
  61. Common EU regulations on the transportation and disposal of toxic waste
  62. The implementation of EU policies to reduce noise pollution in urban areas
  63. EU policies have stimulated offshore wind farms
  64. Strict safety standards for cars, buses and trucks
  65. Protection of endangered species and habitats (EU Natura 2000 network)
  66. Strict ban on animal testing in the cosmetics industry
  67. Membership of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) which monitors the quality and safety of medicines (until recently located in London)
  68. 13% of EU budget earmarked for scientific research and innovation
  69. The UK receives £730 million a year in EU funding for research
  70. EU funding for UK universities
  71. Cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy as a member of Euratom
  72. Minimum paid annual leave and time off work (Working Time Directive)
  73. Equal pay between men and women enshrined in European law since 1957
  74. The right to work no more than 48 hours a week without paid overtime
  75. Minimum guaranteed maternity leave of 14 weeks for pregnant women
  76. Rights to a minimum 18 weeks of parental leave after child birth
  77. EU anti-discrimination laws governing age, religion and sexual orientation
  78. EU rules governing health and safety at work
  79. The rights to collective bargaining and trade union membership are enshrined in EU employment law
  80. The UK enjoys an opt out from the single currency and maintains full control of its borders as a non-member of the Schengen area
  81. Since 1985 the UK has received a budget rebate equivalent to 66% of its net contribution to the EU budget
  82. EU cross-country coordination offers greater protection from terrorists, pedophiles, people traffickers and cyber-crime
  83. The European common arrest warrant
  84. Europe-wide patent and copyright protection
  85. EU consumer protection laws concerning transparency and product guarantees of quality and safety
  86. Improved food labeling
  87. A ban on growth hormones and other harmful food additives
  88. Cheaper air travel due to EU competition laws
  89. Common EU air passenger rights
  90. Deregulation of the European energy market has increased consumer choice and lowered prices
  91. Mutual recognition of the common European driving license
  92. The introduction of the European pet passport
  93. The abolition of mobile telephone roaming charges
  94. The EU acts as a guarantor of the Irish Good Friday Agreement
  95. A frictionless Irish border
  96. The EU acts as a guarantor of the special status of Gibraltar
  97. The EU helped support and maintain democracy in Spain, Portugal and Greece from the 1970s and these countries have become major destinations for British tourists
  98. EU membership has helped facilitate intercultural dialogue

Found via Campaign to Remain – keep Britain in Europe Facebook page

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Reader Interactions

Comments

    • The Lisbon Treaty has been in effect since 2007. There are no changes coming in as often stated in 2021/2022.

      Reply

        • No changes in the Lisbon Treaty that the UK have to make unless they choose to. The UK has opt outs on them.

          Reply

        • The Lisbon Treaty was agreed by all EU member countries in 2007 and came into force in 2009, and has been in place ever since. If the UK were to remain in the EU beyond March 2019 – (which it now obvs is) – for any reason – then the Lisbon Treaty wouldn’t suddenly change things.

          Reply

          • Leave means leave let’s get on with it democracy is the issue here. People voted majority won that’s it. Britain will deal with it as it feels fit we’ve been one of the strongest economies in the world and I believe we’ll maintain the high position. This just scares tactics to try and get us to have a second referendum because the E.U don’t like the decision its a threat to their way of life CORRUPTION linked to M.E.Ps…

    • All these rules,laws, funding for this and that, weather we are in the EU or not, does not matter. What matters is do we run this country or do we let someone from another country run this country?? Trading with 27 EU countries or trading 127 other countries, I know what I would choose. At the end of the day the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

      Reply

      • Whilst I agree with you about the richer and poorer element of your comment, I believe it is far better to be inside the club looking out, rather than outside looking in.
        You mention the 127 other countries we could deal with. Well, apart from the geographical distances and cost to resources that would incur, virtually everything would have to be transported through…….. oh yes, Europe.
        Please reread all of the benefits that we have accrued through being part of the EU.
        Oh yes, and by the way- it’s “whether”, not “weather”.

        Reply

          • No, it’s just the UK population are half illiterate.
            Even broadcasters and politicians use the word “think” instead of “thing” .I HATE IT!

          • Correction! That’s down to The Cuts to Service the Big Tax Breaks for the Richest economic Quartile!

          • The EU has no involvement in our education system. You’ve been listening to drivel from the Brexit Company Ltd

          • THe Tories fucked your education through underfunding then charging you for a higher education . It’s cheaper to study in Europe the lectures are often in English . Your comment is stupid .

          • Why is a smart t… better than a dumb t…? Some of the sweetest, loving people aren’t all that smart. HV a heart. I didn’t want to vote because of all the name calling between remainders and leavers but our ancestors fought for our right to. In the end I voted leave because remainers being really vociferous in calling leavers thick, stupid. So I became one of the ‘thickos’. I am just hoping that those who use such terminology to label people do not work in teaching or with people with learning difficulties.

        • I hate a big head correcting other peoples comments. I am in agreement with Trevor Mills I want the UK to make UK rules not the EUSSR.

          Reply

          • You’ll have a shock when our rules are being made by Trump and his cronies then, Jean.

          • Read Owen Jones’ book ‘ The Establishment and how they get away with it ‘ , it’ll open your eyes . Brexit is for millionaires who don’t want to pay tax for the infrastructure that we all use so we , the workers end up paying more .

        • Most of the 98 reasons aren’t exactly accurate and as for comments like European footballs playing here. Just making things up to increase the list the EU is small in comparison the world trade

          Reply

          • Take reason 72 workers directive. Zero hours. Don’t think they HV much rights.

        • How come you think that way about EU …..stay in and change from the inside ……whilst many of our own MPs eg Anna Soubry, Sarah Woolerton, to name a few ,didn’t apply that to their own party and jumped ship as-soon- as …..Also Nicola Sturgeon does not apply that to her thinking as she prepares to canvass to hold an independent vote in Scotland to leave U.K…….yet they believe that the Intransigent EU can be changed. Also could you ask Nicola Sturgeon who is going to put the border in
          between England and Scotland …they will be in the EU ….potentially…and different rules apply

          Reply

      • Judging by the performance of those currently running this country, I respectfully submit that this is a ‘no brainer’!

        Reply

        • People seem to forget that you/we elected the people running this country. If you/we don’t like it now is the time to change it.

          Reply

        • Trading via shipping is now so cheap and low carbon footprint that for most goods this will not be relevant. In fact the trucks moving stuff to and ports is ar more of an issue. Where planes are involved this would be true, however there is no reason not to take the majority of short shelf-life goods from the EU countries.

          Reply

          • Are you aware that Asia is in the process of setting up its own trading block do you think the UK will get access before the EU, wake up to reality

        • Where do you think most of your electronic devices come from?.. China, Japan, South Korea, by boat… If we are out of the EU, they will still come from China, Japan, South Korea… By boat.. Jesus 🙄

          Reply

          • Simon, arguably it’s not the imports that matter so much to the survival of UK businesses and our GDP, it’s the ability for the UK to access export markets, currently early half of our exports go to the EU.
            However, some imports of specific medicines from major EU pharmaceutical companies are vital to people’s lives – so we may have a medical crisis.
            Leaving the EU is a disaster for our manufacturing industries, and any UK-based company relying on exporting.. adds huge additional admin cost of import/export processing, plus time delays, also many companies now forced to set up an EU HQ to survive.
            Fluctuations in currency exchange are dangerous as can wipe out narrow profit margins overnight and cause liquidation, as will fewer export contracts being signed with EU-based companies – currently their prime market as tariffs rise, and share prices have and will tumble.
            You have to seriously question the motives of the Ultra-Rich Brexiteers when it is exposed that they are currently investing serious cash into betting on Shorts against UK Businesses failing, and they have already made hundreds of millions of pounds out of this.

          • Most international trade happens on the basis of EU trade treaties with any/all of those countries.
            On exit the UK will have no/few trade treaties with anyone.
            And as they will then be desperate to have treaties with anyone, they will be in the weakest bargaining position ever!

      • It’s not about individual countries any more Trevor..it’s about international-unity to solve global problems. Try spreading your love a bit further!

        Reply

      • And we know just how competent the people that make decisions in this country are. Still I’m sure it will all be fine

        Reply

        • Really just like that? It will all be fine? With the incompetence shown so far i predict this will be jumping from frying pan to fire. No plan, no competent Government, trading in disarray? All this talk of trading with countries worldwide is a myth. We hv one of the lowest productivity rates in EU. As an overseas (non EU)resident i can tell you we are already a laughing stock. Why wud all these countries trade with us any more than they hv before? People like Liam Fox traveling thru like some victorian opium trader claiming deals can be done quickly! So far Papua New Guinea & Fiji! Singapore just concluded FTA with EU that took 7 years to conclude. Fox is deluded like most of his colleagues. Then we read British Trade Commissioner in N America spending $17 million taxpayers money on a grace & favour apartment for him & his family in New York. Priorities clear there then. Its been a shambles from the start and will only get worse. I’m so sad to see my Country failing so badly 🙁 i really hope i’m wrong and that somehow we will rise from the ashes if Brexit and retake our place in the international community as a respected contributor.

          Reply

          • I hear you David… And I also hope that my concerns are disproven, as it will be to the detriment of the many, not the few, if they are not.

          • The reason it took 7 years to strike a deal is because all 27 countries have to agree. The EU have been trying to strike a deal with America for years but somebody always objects, wine producing countries car manufacturers etc, much easier one on one

      • We rule ourselves.
        We are in a club, voted FOR the club rules and abide by them. We made those rules into uk rules because they are good rules for everyone.

        Reply

        • Stop telling us about the money they give us. It is our money. There is nowhere where they put it that we could not do so ourselves. We worry more about the huge sums just disappearing from the accounts.
          It is rubbish to say we have more say or clout in the EU. We are one voice in 28 and we have not been getting what we want.
          I was always against paying MP’s for fear of ending up with professional politicians with little other experience and therefore knowledge. I lost we got ones now who draw the salary but seek to delegate the governance of this country to someone else.

          Reply

          • Most people seem to forget that we are part of the law making body of t the european parliament. Also now and then our man becomes leader ofthe group.

          • The EU is mainly about solidarity. It should be normal for the rich to contribute more than the poor. An insurance would crash if everyone wanted to get more out of it than what they pay into the system.

          • But we have been getting what we want. The UK under Thatcher and Major lobbied for the single market, and the UK under Blair lobbied for the expansion into Eastern Europe. True, we didn’t get what the UK wanted under Cameron, namely which was the expansion into Turkey. Do you remember, in 2005, the European Court Of Human Rights told the UK to give the vote to prisoners, against the UK government’s wishes. That was a big story for a while. Apart from the fact that that the ECHR has nothing to do with the EU, has it happened? And Sovereignty is a such a red herring. Every time you sign up to an agreement you hand over some degree of sovereignty. Check out Article 5 of NATO as an example.

        • Sadly you are wrong. The unelected EU Commission propose (issue) the rules – they are the only ones allowed to. The EU Council (also unelected) review these and – if they agree – then they send them to the EU Parliament to ratify them. The EU Parliament hums and ha’s and tweaks here and there (if they read them and get a consensus) and then they pass them. So the EU Parliament is just a rubber stamp group really. And where are the UK Parliament – well they will be only a rubber stamp group too, once the EU Commission remove all the member states Vetos and Opt-Outs as they promise to do “to streamline processes” (see page 3 of the EU “Vision” document. So we will all be joining the Euro soon, and handing control of our armed services over to the EU Commission to give the orders.
          It’s all there in black and white, and there are videos on youtube of Juncker, Verhofstadt, Tusk etc all confirming this. So be careful what you wish for. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/resources/library/media/20171023RES86651/20171023RES86651.pdf

          Reply

          • You mean the elected EU Commission don’t you, Peter? And the EU Council are the elected representatives of each of the member states, are they not? And the Commission members are elected by the EU Parliament, are they not? Now in Whitehall, our ‘Commission’ consisting of Civil Servants(Whitehall Mandarins!) ARE unelected. Not that it matters! As long as you have the best people doing the job as an EU Commissioner or a Whitehall Mandarin, does it really matter how their appointment was verified?

          • Interesting and misinformed statement you’ve made. Although it is one way of making/changing rules you may want to consider how, if your assumptions are correct, that a private individual managed to change the law by making a representation: Jamie Oliver managed to have the rule/law altered regarding fishing.
            Oh, by the way, the Council is made up of elected members from each country.

        • The rules changed after joining in the 70’s. The club was merely about free trade etc. This gradually changed and early members could do nothing about it. All was known and planned ealier. A document written in 1971 outlines the plans for a federal state. The document was covered under the official secrets act and not given public viewing for over 30 years. The public were concerned about plans but Ted heath assured them in 1972 it was about trade within a common market. He lied.

          Reply

        • Only rules made since we joined. when we joined the CM we had to change our tax laws to accept VAT in the place of Purchase Tax which was simpler and targeted on non-essentials.

          Many of these claimed benefits are false. We had functioning shipbuilding, motor, motorcycle pharmacutical, steel, fishing industries and much more- all moved abroad / flogged off.

          British farming was thriving then also but the subsidising of inefficient continental part time farms eneded that.

          The monies we receive from the EU are taken from the moneys we contribute so what benefit?

          I fully agree with all the criticism of our politicians but the EU is no answer the answer is to set up a party that will do the job properly. I have been trying to do this but all I get is rubbish arguments for doing nothing.
          Please see my website wwwuk-centre-party.uk but please don’t give me crap about “centrism” there is no such thing labout & tory push the idea tha there is to protect their lack of sensible polcies.

          Reply

      • T’was ever thus… Life in the EU is not so bad. Millions of people are desperate to get in. It needs to reform, yes, and fast, but in order to reform it, you need to stay IN!!!!

        Reply

        • That worked really well for David Cameron didn’t it !!! Did you not see the video of Juncker and others in the Commission deriding requests from Cameron to make changes so the UK would vote Remain? They said “no” and the UK said “in that case, we Leave”. So the EU have brought on Brexit through their refusal to make changes. So I don’r hold up much hope for your plans to “be inside the EU to change it”. After all, you cannot vote the Commissioners OUT of power, out of their jobs – the Commission are unelected.

          Reply

        • Those waiting to get in have practically nothing to offer, very little money but plety of people who just want to be able to move around europe grabbing what they can, whilst their own countries milk the system for as much money as possible.

          Reply

      • Its the old “chestnut” of the sovereignty debate yet again…….?.If we were totally self-sufficient ( not trade with anyone; able to defend ourselves against attack, etc) then that polemic would suffice. However, we are not self-sufficient and need to trade with others, either to import goods we need to survive or produce wealth by exporting goods to others. If we were totally self-sufficient, we would not have a seat in the UN to discuss and make international laws. We would not be a member of NATO ( where we have clear representation and input). In fact we would isolate ourselves so much from the rest of the world that they would treat us much like North Korea. ( we would be a closed society). We are not ruled by foreign countries at the moment ( although the Americans have come close to it since the end of the second world war, under their guise of the “special relationship”);-we elect our own government and have our own legal system. Many argue that EU law supersedes UK law. In a way they are right, in that international law supersedes all domestic law irrespective of nation. The EU is a coalition of the willing, whereby shared common interests are mutually supported. Each nation elects its representatives to the Parliament. The Council of Europe is a talking shop for head of nation states who send their commissioners to do all the heavy lifting ( effectively a civil service/much like we have in Britain). We do not lose sovereignty by being a member of the EU, rather we extend it and influence other member states. That is why so many Brexiiteers do not like TM’s deal. To accept it would destroy our sovereignty as we would become ” a vassal state” . So those that would like a no-deal WTO situation, would trash our economy because tariffs for example on British food would be 60%. Many farmers would be bankrupt as cheap food ( often with questionable food ethics) would flood the market. This would be detrimental to our public health and in turn create food shortages. But hey…this is the cost of 19th century capitalism .

        Reply

        • on what basis do you say ” tariffs for example on British food would be 60%”? Also, the EU charges tarifs on food entering the EU, so we are already paying a tarif on our food, Only food produced within the EU is “tarif free” but they are not the only countries to produce these foodstuffs, a Wetherspoons indicated (a small example). Africa, South America, Asia and others can sell to us direct once we are outside the EU, and we can gree our own terms with them – after all they are paying tariffs to buy our goods currently, which we could choose to reduce/drop.

          Reply

        • Most of these rules could be achieved just as easily by countries agreeing on them, without having to abide by a parliament that dictates them to us (unless we veto them). what people never mention is that we can chose to work with Europe and have the same standards, without having to be in the EU. Also and perhaps more important, the EU is in serious trouble, ( the last EU elections prove that ) so why do we want to jump back into a sinking ship?
          We don’t need to be self sufficient or never make trade deals or security treaties with other countries… we just don’t want to be ruled by a parliament that we don’t elect, can’t remove, and bully the rest of Europe to their will, or threaten punishment to dissenters (Poland, Hungary, Greece…etc)
          You can tell me that living in a gold cage is pretty, it’s made of gold, expensive and high status… but it remains a cage.

          Reply

      • The rich will still get richer and the poor poorer if we leave the EU. In fact our politicians will not have any restraints placed on them to keep them in check and will make it work for their own benefit, not for you or any ordinary, lowly person’s benefit.
        The problem is too many greedy people in positions of power, without conciences.

        Reply

      • Not a single word about the EU army, where the EU can send a German division to knock down the yellow vests in Paris… and the EU stated Russia, China and the USA are our enemies, I rather have the USA as friend.
        I am a immigrant in the UK, if Brexit means I have to divorce and move back to Holland, it is a small price to pay for the future of the UK.
        It all hangs on proving if I lived here for 5 years, I lived here for 6 years and 5.5 years in a marriage. In the end, we will improvise, adapt and overcome.

        Reply

        • To Arjan Wilbie
          “Not a single word about the EU army, where the EU can send a German division to knock down the yellow vests in Paris.”
          That is even more paranoid than most British Brexiteers. For a start the EU does not allow itself to interfere in member states’ politics unless the basic rights of citizens as agreed by member governments is being threatened. And secondly, we in the EU are friends; if there is an army it will be used in an entirely passive way on behalf of the EU to defend against wrong doers. The thought of it being used by one member to attack another is ridiculous.
          “and the EU stated Russia, China and the USA are our enemies,” I don’t think so. The EU leaders and officials, are diplomatic, unlike Trump and Johnson.

          Reply

          • “EU leaders are Diplomatic”? Do you really think that Jean Claude Junker is diplomatic Ian?

          • I hope you are right. However the Hungarians thought the USSR were their friends and would not send tanks into Budapest. Look how that turned out!

      • We can already trade with 127 countries and being a member if the EU has made that easier.

        We are in control of our laws. We choose to share control with our partners in Europe for our benefit. If we leave the EU we will still need to trade with them and so we will still have to obey their rules, only now we will have no say in those rules. Leaving the EU will give the UK no benefits. It won’t reduce immigration, it won’t give us more control (only a small cabal in Westminster will be released to reduce our rights for their power and profit).

        I have been speaking to leave voters for 3 years now and not one of them has ever given me a benefit of leaving. Everything they want to achieve we either already have or is in the hands of Westminster not Brussels.

        Reply

      • In answer to Trevor Mills.
        If you buy a toy for your daughter and it explodes in her face and blinds her it matters a great deal more than you beating your British chest and saying, “No foreigner is going to tell us what to do!” Even more so when people have been totally misled about this country “being run by another country.”
        The reality is that we live in a world where we have benefited enormously from technological and scientific advances. When we buy some device or use some service we the public often have little or no idea how it works or is done. To protect us from exploitation we need regulations. Lots of them.
        If representatives from 28 countries sit down and ask if there is agreement that food-producing companies above a certain size should have to list ingredients, especially substances that can be harmful to people with allergies, there is a good chance that the answer will be yes. If the assembled representatives listen to expert advice and decide that one regulation applied throughout the 28 countries is better than 28 regulations all saying much the same thing, that is common sense in action, not one country ruling another. It means the consumer has the same rights and protection throughout the 28 countries, and businesses have one set of rules to follow instead of 28.

        Reply

        • You make a good point regarding goods and businesses. Does this apply to taxes and policies too?

          For example, the EU now has a Department for Finance and wants to “harmonise” all taxes across the EU. Are you happy for someone in Brussels who you did not appoint and have no power to remove can decide what taxes you should pay, including any increases in tax?

          And when the vetoes and opt-outs are removed shortly to “make processes more efficient” (page 3 of the EU “Vision” document) will you be happy for Brussels to decide that the UK should join the Euro after all, despite the ERM debacle showing our economy is not suitable?

          And if the EU Commission decides that National Service will be a good idea, will you be happy for your children to be sent to another country to be soldiers in an EU Army over which the UK Generals and Admirals may have no control?

          Reply

          • Harmonising taxes does not mean EU centrally controlling who pays what – but to ensure that the wealthy can’t hide from their tax duties by putting their money in countries with lax tax laws (e.g. UK.)
            If the veto/opt-out is removed, then it will be harder to get agreement across all the nations, and that gives everyone a greater voice. The vetoes and opt-outs the UK has chosen aren’t actually very useful to the UK. It’s why you get ripped off for your Euros when you go on holiday. Why it takes longer to get in/out of the UK than France – to no benefit of anyone.
            Finally, there is no EU army/airforce/navy – it only exists through cooperation between member nations, and hence there would be officers from all nations in different positions of authority. Considering the loss of British lives in the last few decades due to decisions by UK politicians and UK officers, would they really be better off? And to be honest, National Service would do a lot more good than letting them grow up glued to their computers/phones!

          • The vetos and opt outs are not due to expire, and we have more of them than anyone else.
            We have the best deal of any EU member; we’d be crazy to give it all up.
            How would life be better outside the EU?

        • You would still have regulations!! Just because you’re outside the EU doesn’t mean you can’t adopt the same ones.

          Reply

        • no foreigners telling us what to do. we are all from foreign origin in this country from royals down to me. what are you??

          Reply

      • Another brainwashed by quitter lies. All laws have to be agreed by the UK and are not mandatory. In any case, would you rather have laws agreed by elected representatives of 28 countries than trust any UK government alone? The trade agreement with the EU gives access to well over other 90 trade deals. We can trade tariff free with at least 27 other countries, whereas WTO deals all have tariffs. If ýou read more carefully and do some research you will understand more!

        Reply

        • the UK will lose the ability to “agree” new laws with May’s Withdrawal Agreement AND when the Commission replace our Vetos and Opt-outs with QMV (see page 3 of the EU “Vision” document on the EU Parliament website). If our Government makes a hash of things we can replace them. However, we cannot replace the EU bodies at all – Commission, Council, or Parliament – so we have lost constrol of our own destiny and our power entirely. Happy with that? WTO do have tariffs but there are options to suspend them and change them – it’s up to us and the other countries we are trading with, not the EU.

          Reply

      • EU membership does not stop the UK trading with 127 countries, in fact, exactly the opposite as it enables the UK to get better trade deals with countries outside the EU. When the UK represents 2% of the three largest economies, there is simply no way that it can negotiate terms as favourable as the EU has. The idea that it is a choice between trading with 27 versus 127 is pur nonsense.

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        • Ken Clarke made the same comment but Andre Neill destroyed his argument, because the EU has no obligation to protect the UK. So for example the EU could agree for the USA to sell its goods to the EU but not enforce a reciprocal agreement allowing the UK to sell goods to the USA. And the UK can do nothing to stop this if the other member states out-vote us (which they might do this excluding the UK from the reciprocal agreements would improve their member state’s sales to to the USA).

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      • It’s not one or the other. The EU does not stop us trading with anyone else. Germany trades many more times than we do with China and France with india for example. EU enables more trade outside EU through the many trade deals that we benefit from as members. If we crash we lose those making it much harder to trade and harder to forge new ones as we will be a smaller market than we were and we will be in a desperate state as the only country in the world with no trade deals!

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      • Trevor, most of what I was going to say has been covered by Martin’s reply to you. In addition, it will be ages before we can secure 127 trade deals as we only have about 8 trade deals, separately from the EU, at the moment! I think that following some well-thought out EU rules is not being governed by another country. Unfortunately it seems, as Martin has already said, that the rich will get richer and the poor get poorer whether we are in the EU or not.

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      • It does seem odd, that those who seek to leave the EU, are convinced that the UK, on its own, can strike better bilateral trade deals than the combined might of 28 member states working together. Do they realistically think that the UK will have the economic muscle to stand up to the big bully boys of international trade? Some of them even think that erecting trade barriers between the UK and the EU, is going to increase our prosperity, which goes against all the accepted norms of free marketeers and the constant drive to reduce tariffs, to make trade easier. Utterly bizarre that Leavers are adamant that this approach will be good for the country. I am still waiting for a rational explanation of these ‘benefits’ of leaving the club.

        I don’t think many people remember what happened in the Suez crisis in ’56. It’s a salutary lesson in how larger economies use their economic muscle to achieve the policy aims. In Egypt, in ’56, Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal. We told him he couldn’t do that, he told us to bog off, we with our French allies, took military action against him, but left in 7 days, after the USA sold billions of dollars worth of pounds on the financial markets. Our PM, Eden rang President Ike, and asked him, ‘why?’. He replied, as soon as you piss off from Egypt, we’ll buy pounds. So we left! you see, on your own, you have to do what the big boys tell you to do, otherwise it’s painful. It’s the way of the world. No sovereignty from ’56 onwards. Toe the line or else!

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      • Do you realise that the much-vaunted trade deals our Government has been seeking are with countries that have tiny GDP and that the larger countries like USA and China will bully us? I, for one, voted to join the EU precisely to avoid the US heavy-handed tactics which were threatening our media, business and health.

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      • As members of the EU we AUTOMATICALLY have access to 40 trade deals with around 70 countries, plus other countries that we can continue to trade with. If we leave the EU we lose access to ALL of these deals ON NOVEMBER 1ST. Liam Fox had managed to negotiate only 12 deals to replace the 40 we already have. He was sacked last week to be replaced by Liz Truss. What is she going to be able to achieve in 3 months that Liam Fox and others couldn’t achieve in 3 years?

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      • And you believe that do you!? You would see Britain subjugated to foreign powers? Ask yourself why Britain did not roll over to the Third Reich on 1939? Where is your self respect?

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        • Chances of us being ‘subjugated’ to foreign powers (financially) inside the EU – close to zero. Outside, as a sort of loner – significant I would suggest, especially having to pander to the States, as we shall probably have to.

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      • With respect – Can you honestly say that this country is being well run by our government (other than run down in a spectacular fashion) . It feels to me that our situation is worse since we threatened to leave Europe and that our government have had to manage (cope) on their own.

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      • When has the EU stopped the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. The EU has made sure all the MEP’s are getting richer.

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      • What birdbrain can simultaneously put enormous effort into cutting global warming and reducing climate change, while seriously planning to boost a vast logistic effort to trade with countries like America and Australia⁉️😳
        27 nations on our doorstep, captive market FFS
        Seriously stupid

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      • I agree. I have just returned (due to the Brexit scare) after 10 years living in France where I became acquainted with many people from all over europe. Yes, everyone has their moans and groans but generally all think that united we keep things on an even keel and financially its better for all.
        We have far more chance of keeping a stable europe from within than from outside.
        Things have changed so much since we joined and, if you look deeply, very much for the better.

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        • Clearly they have no concept of the amount of control that the EU bosses lust after. The power and control that they seek are frightening. The fact that so many of you can’t see it astounds me!

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          • This seems paranoid. Do you by any chance get your information from the Mail, or the Express?
            And you think your description doesn’t perfectly describe our own ruling politicians? With their self-seeking ways, greed, craving power for its own sake, and desperation to avoid at any cost the forthcoming fair and reasonable EU tax regulations to stop tax avoidance (so easy in the UK), I would rather have ANY of the prominent Euro politicians – who seem able to make educated, rational and reasonable arguments for their beliefs without recourse to lies or trying to bury official information – making decisions on my behalf than our leaders of the past two decades. I’d trade any of our lot for Guy Verhofstadt in seconds. This is not lack of patriotism, but despair about who has gained control of our once wonderful and tolerant nation. What has kept peace in Europe by and large for over 40 years is international cooperation over the common good, economic and social, not this out-dated, out-moded “we’re better off without you” nationalism. We so are not!
            I want the best for all of us, except the tax-cheating fat cats, so please realise where your own best interests lie. The EU has much wrong with it, yes. But only a fraction as much as our own system has now developed. And we have far more say in both Europe’s and our own affairs than the media magnates with their vested interests would have us believe.
            Learn whom to trust: last on the list is certainly BoJo…
            Wishing the best for us (nearly) all.

      • A general question: why can’t we ‘like’ someone else’s comment in this publication? We can only ‘reply’.

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    • The British Isles are European and so are it’s peoples. Take a geography and history lesson.

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      • Britain is not part of Europe , We are British not, European.
        We will be better off out. We can then spend our money on us instead of the EU filtering off their commission. That is the main reason they want us to stay

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        • Totally agree with you John we pay too much money to the Brussels fat cats and after all the country voted to leave , we were great before joining the EU and. We will be great again after leaving it

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          • Please remember that “the country” did not vote to leave, 72.2% of the electorate participated in the referendum, 51.89% of them voted to leave i.e. just 37.46% of “the country”. That’s not that many, especially when you think that, in the meantime, almost 2 million young people have reached voting age – of those, my guess is that a majority would vote to remain.

          • Our country was poor before joining and would be poor again if we left. We pay a minuscule amount of our budget (£20 per year per person) to have a stall in the marketplace.
            The EU gives more to deprived areas of the uk than our own government does – and would ever do.

          • Wendy, dyou really think we pay too much? As number 21 in the ‘98 Reasons To Stay In The EU’ list states, we send the EU ‘less than an eighth of the UK’s defence spending’. Here’s a good and easily relatable analogy – If we all thought of our contribution to the EU on a personal level, it actually “costs citizens less than half a cup of coffee daily — and as little as a tenth of a cup — in most of the 28 member countries”. Yes, that’s right. Each. You couldn’t buy half a pint in a Father Jack’s (Tim Martin’s) Wetherspoon for the same amount either. 😜 https://www.politico.eu/article/the-eu-membership-value-post-brexit-budget-coffee-index/
            Personally, I don’t mind paying that amount for us to have access to the world’s largest trading bloc, for the ability to work, live and retire in an EU country, for the UK to have a say in the EU and be a part in shaping its future, and for a safer country due to access to the EU’s crime-fighting database. The pros far, far outweigh the cons. Type your postcode into here to see how the EU has benefitted your area —> https://www.myeu.uk
            Barack Obama said, “Having the UK in the European Union gives us much greater confidence about the strength of the transatlantic union and is part of the cornerstone of institutions built after the second world war that has made the world safer and more prosperous.” I don’t think you’d catch the current Trumpet president saying anything similar, he can’t wait to get his chlorinated chicken onto the UK’s dinner plates, and as this article reveals, it “may be the least of our worries when it comes to signing a trade deal with Trump”. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/chlorinated-chicken-usa-trade-deal-donald-trump-brexit-a8295141.html. Say goodbye to the health and food and other safety standards along with all the other benefits of being in the EU. And anyone who believes, “Leave means Leave, no deal, no problem, let’s go WTO”, please watch this, it’s a podcast hosted by three men who give their expert opinion, firmly based on facts https://youtu.be/Sx4AF-3Rd44
            Leaving the EU won’t make us great again. All it’ll do is confirm that we’re better off within than without.
            As far as slogans go, don’t you think ‘Remain and Reform’ has a much more hopeful and positive ring to it than ‘Leave Means Leave?’
            #RemainAndReform #BinBrexit

          • Actually, we were not great before joining, we were the Dirty Old Man of Europe, which is why we joined it in 1975.

          • Britain spends about 0.37% of GDP on the EU. Just about 1% of government expenditure goes on the EU. Just saying.

        • As the history lesson comment said – whether you like it or not. For the last 2000 years we have absorbed Roman (Italian), Angles Saxons etc (German), Norman (French), Hanoverian (those pesky Germans again – our Empire was at the height of its Poor under them) and more recently the Windrush generation and others that were encouraged to come to this country to plug job and skills gaps. To pretend we aren’t the biggest melting pot in the world is to ignore fact. If you are so proud of your English (which is derived from Anglo Saxon) is to honour your Germanic origin

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          • Never have we absorbed anywhere near the influx of immigrants in such a short time

          • I do agree with the excellent comment Rachel made on April 3rd and couldn’t have put it as well myself.
            Yes, ‘Remain and Reform’ is a much better slogan than ‘Leave means Leave’! And the way we were going to leave, after the 2016 vote, was never fully defined

            What we as an individual pay the EU per week is probably less than the cost of a cup of coffee at a railway station outlet! And think of the peace of mind that we get for improved and decent food standards, medical and scientific research, pooled crime prevention and also cheaper flights for those that travel to Europe.

        • One may say my Nation is the best,my race is the best,my culture is the best,and so on,one may feel proud saying all these things,but that very pride ends up becoming the cause of all interhuman conflict,in human history. Bear in mind why the European concept was created peace and Prosperity

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          • A mentality which the right-wing tabloid press created for England (and Wales: Scotland and N. Ireland had more sense) over the last 20 or 30 years at least. A tribal “us and them” mentality was created by the press, and cemented by the Leave campaign, which unfortunately stuck sufficiently to get a (narrow) majority over the line. And still does, in the eyes of most Leavers.

          • These days there are seven continents. Africa, Antartica, Asia, Australasia,Europe, North America, South America.

    • It already has. It became effective in 2009. Majority voting on some but not all issues is likely to improve both efficiency and democracy, whilst protecting national security and other sensitive issues.

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    • The Lisbon treaty ”kicked in” in 2009 – you have been sucked in by liars – we were instrumental in writing and signing it off – any changes brought about by it are ALREADY in force and benefiting us – there is a fake information post doing the rounds (forced Euro/loss of vetos – none of it is true)

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    • The Lisbon Treaty’s been kicking in 24 hours a day for nearly ten years now and it thrills me.

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    • Nothing, as it did so ages ago. I assume you refer to the troll post that has haunted the internet recently. Like most of the Brexiter posting it s either erroneous or simple lies al of which go unchallenged by brexiters and enthusiatically lapped up as gospel. You should live in America, you’d love it, even the president can’t recognise the truth.
      As for the Lisbon Treaty it was hammered out by Members of the EU in 2007 and became law in 2009. YES THAT’S 10 YEARS AGO. By all means don’t believe a word I say. I wouldn’t show you that gullibility. I would slavishly CHECK THE FACTS OF THE BREXIT BULLSHIT. You can do so with the Lisbon treaty right here.- https://fullfact.org/europe/viral-list-about-lisbon-treaty-wrong/ . I don’t expect you to bother as it is easier to swallow bullshit than seek the truth.

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    • Very little for the people of mainland Europe, protected by written constitutions, Britain, peasants probably shafted by their own money grabbing elite.

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    • Half of the reasons to stay are complete rubbish. Saying we get money from the EU yet pay them more than we receive?!
      The EU has paid companies to pack up and move abroad with the money we give them, costing thousands of jobs across the nation.
      And to top it off the EU are responsible for the Premier League getting top continental players 😂😂😂

      Sums up really the complete bollocks that remain voters come up with.

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    • The Lisbon Treaty came into force in 2009 and nothing is about to change. If you’ve read posts about having to have the Euro and other claims, they aren’t true. Check it out at fullfact.org or any fact checking organisation if you don’t believe me.

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  2. This needs to be circulated across the country to educate people what the EU offers. We need a peoples vote for cancellation of brexit we will be poorer in so any ways not just financially but socially and culturally. The EU offers us security of human rights and regulations on important issues such as climate change, workers rights, etc. WE need them more than THEY need us.
    I was proud of being part of the EU and I dread the thought of going backwards to a little englander mentality.

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    • Then go live in Europe then! We like our freedom and don’t want any part of the “Lisbon Treaty”.

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      • Will people stop suggesting those unhappy should just go and live in Europe.. Leaving the Eu as a hard brexit or ‘do deal’ means we wont be able to live work or retire in the rest of Europe. The argument that any Brit who want s to live in Europe should just go, is based on a freedom of movement – After leaving EU occurs no British citizen will be able to… I for one find this very unfair. Im not curtailing anyone’s freedom,, but my neighbour Brexiteer is curtailing mine and my kids freedom for the rest of their lives. People will fight for this right for freedom and will continue to, Its hugely important. Maybe not to some, but to alot of people .., No ones gonna back down over this because someone shouted at them on the internet.

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        • we became a member of the EEC to trade with other members, not to have our laws or judgements overruled by a body of people who do not even live in our country. The EEC has morphed into a giant money grabbing machine, with lots of MEPs making a lot of money off the back of it.
          It has also lent so much money to countries that are now almost bankrupt trying to pay back the gigantic loans plus interest (Spain, Greece,Italy & Portugal). If as pointed out in one of the so called 98 reasons to remain the EU we get 66% of what we pay in back what happens to the other 34% of our 39 billion that they have every year?

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          • We spend 1.1% of our total budget on the EU. That’s less than the overseas aid (1.2%), and we don’t DIRECTLY get much back for that except the satisfaction of good deeds, a bit of political influence here and there, a bit of a glow to our reputation internationally, some good-will from the countries we help and maybe, in the far flung future, way down the line, if the countries we help can improve their situation, that improves the world, which can in turn benefit us a bit too. I’m sure I don’t have to ask, but you’d like this stopped too, yes?
            FYI, we spend 2% on our own government admin.

            OBVIOUSLY, we don’t get back everything we put in from our contributions – how on earth would that work?? It’s like if you asked back for all the money you paid into a subscription service, as well as getting the service / product. Some of it has to go to the running of the EU, paying salaries of the lawmakers (who include our own 73 MEPs), some of the money goes to improving things in other poorer states, who will in turn grow and become more productive members in time, which will benefit us too!

            “with lots of MEPs making a lot of money off the back of it” – yeah, especially the 29 Brexit “Party” (corporation) “MEPs” who were elected as a boneheaded, useless “protest” by idiots who think they can somehow try to destroy the benevolent organisation which employs them. Where else do you get such insanity? What do you think your boss would think of you if you were suddenly to declare you’re actively trying to ruin his business?? WHILE HE’S PAYING YOUR WAGES? FROM THAT SAME BUSINESS??
            What’s more, these same do-nothing bozos, it turns out, ALREADY make the biggest amount of money as a group out of ALL MEPs (out of ALL countries!) from their “second” jobs (of course, in reality, the MEP job is their second job!)
            What does that tell you? I had some fool on Twitter call these bozos “ordinary people” – most of these “ordinary people” make about the average UK YEARLY wage in ONE MONTH! (a couple make even more!)
            https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/26/brexit-party-meps-are-eus-biggest-earners-in-second-jobs-study-finds

            So maybe direct your misaimed anger where it belongs.

        • What planet do you live on some of my best friends live and work in Europe and they are all nationalities American, Asian ect ( by the way not EU countries)
          Europe has not stopped them settling down in Germany , France , Spain ect what makes you think it will be any different for us

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          • Hasn’t stopped them, sure, but as merely residents with a different citizenship, they do not have the same status, the same rights as the citizens of that country they are now residents in – ask these friends of yours.
            We Brits, as part of the EU (unless the stupidity of this Brexit poison forces us out), can settle in any of those 27 countries with NO RED TAPE, and IMMEDIATELY enjoy the same benefits as full citizens.
            What planet are YOU living on, Norman, that you cannot grasp this simple concept??

        • Jon Gray,
          I,m not sure what you mean by “new” bits not kicking in soon
          Are there some kicking in later that we should be aware of?
          That may cause Remainers some concern?

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      • “Freedom”……..from what exactly…..? We’ll be a lot less free if and when the likes of Rees-Mogg, Fox, Gove and Johnson are “in charge” of things. I just can’t understand why you can’t see that…..??

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      • Your freedom is owned by up to 10 elected MEP’s from 12 UK regions that represent your interest in Europe that clearly not doing there job properly according to you! So your mistrust is misplaced and you should address them and not EU!!!!

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      • The Lisbon treaty ”kicked in” in 2009 – you have been sucked in by liars – we were instrumental in writing and signing it off – any changes brought about by it are ALREADY in force and benefiting us – there is a fake information post doing the rounds (forced Euro/loss of vetos – none of it is true)

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    • They need us , were the third highest contributor. There are some odd points here. European football players, well that’s important. Open borders, so we have no idea who has moved here, cheap labour, lowering our Labour rate. Cheap foods, ruined our own food suppliers. Able to live in Europe, well people were moving to Europe back in the 50s and 60s. But if there are people who believe in all this , god help us. Tara democracy.

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      • UK opted out of the Schengen Agreement, so UK borders are already not that open. You don’t know who moved to the UK because you don’t have a proper registration system. More advanced EU member states (France, Germany, Netherlands….) know exactly who lives in their country and where they come from.

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    • So true! Leaving the EU is a retrograde step in every way. We need to think about the future and to enable us as a species to carry on living on this planet, the problems like global warming, eliminating child poverty, making sure everyone has clean water and sanitation, etc, etc, can only be tackled on a world wide scale meaning more unity. The EU is not perfect but at the very least it’s a small step in the right direction.

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    • How much do we pay to the EU and how much do we get back a table of paid and paid out would be helpful.France has always got the best deals

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      • We spend 1.1% of our total budget on the EU. That’s less than the overseas aid (1.2%), and we don’t DIRECTLY get much back for that except the satisfaction of good deeds, a bit of political influence here and there, a bit of a glow to our reputation internationally, some good-will from the countries we help and maybe, in the far flung future, way down the line, if the countries we help can improve their situation, that improves the world,
        FYI, we spend 2% on our own government admin.

        OBVIOUSLY, we don’t get back everything we put in from our contributions, as some confused souls here have complained lthough we do get 66% back!) – how on earth would that work?? It’s like if you asked back for all the money you paid into a subscription service, as well as getting the service / product. Some of it has to go to the running of the EU, paying salaries of the lawmakers (who include our own 73 MEPs), some of the money goes to improving things in other poorer states, who will in turn grow and become more productive members in time, which will then benefit us too!

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    • A lot on it is rubbish though.
      All rebates end in 2023 and will not be renewed.
      Our contributions go up by 2% each year after that.
      Free movement of people has kept low paid jobs on the poverty line.
      Before we joined
      fruit and veg got picked with no problem.
      People have always bought property in other countries.
      People were still able to go abroad for holidays.
      Students still went abroad to study.
      Foreign students came here to study.( same way as Chinese/ Japanese students come today)
      Hospitals still had foreign nurses doctors.

      Yes we had all that before we were conned into joining.

      Why people don’t want out?
      Frightened they holiday may cost £10 more.
      Frightened of the unknown.( no need to be ,we were ok before joining will be again once left)
      Businesses frightened won’t get cheap labour and will have to do away with zero hour contracts .
      Government frightened cos they will actually have to work. Instead of just been office boys rubber stamping what the eu tells them.
      The list goes on.

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      • Let me pick this apart:
        “A lot on it is rubbish though.
        All rebates end in 2023 and will not be renewed.”

        That’s just not true. I have no idea where you read this.

        “Our contributions go up by 2% each year after that.”

        Again. Not true.

        “Free movement of people has kept low paid jobs on the poverty line.
        Before we joined fruit and veg got picked with no problem.”

        Then why are farmers saying that without cheap labour then food will rot in the fields?
        https://news.sky.com/story/brexit-farmers-fear-more-crops-will-rot-in-fields-as-eu-workers-move-abroad-11453766

        “People have always bought property in other countries.
        People were still able to go abroad for holidays.
        Students still went abroad to study.
        Foreign students came here to study.( same way as Chinese/ Japanese students come today)”

        This is all true, but may change with a no deal Brexit. Nobody knows what will happen in that case.
        Do you think that any of the above will be easier or better after the UK leaves?
        I doubt it.

        “Hospitals still had foreign nurses doctors.”

        That will change because settled status is only granted to people earning over £30,000 so be prepared for a worse NHS.

        https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/articles/brexit-implications-health-social-care

        “Yes we had all that before we were conned into joining.”

        We joined voluntarily. If you think that we were conned then you should blame the government for allowing it to happen.

        “Why people don’t want out?
        Frightened they holiday may cost £10 more.”

        No. They remember what it was like before we joined, which leads to your next statement:

        “Frightened of the unknown.( no need to be ,we were ok before joining will be again once left)”

        I don’t know if you remember what it was like before we joined, but it was in no way what I remember as being OK.
        Miners strikes, Fireman strikes, Ambulance strikes, three day week, rubbish piling up on the streets, constant power cuts and being labelled as the “sick man of Europe”.
        Maybe you’re too young to remember that.

        “Businesses frightened won’t get cheap labour and will have to do away with zero hour contracts .”

        Doing away with zero hour contracts would be great, but the government allows them (and temporary work) because they boost the employment numbers, as do people who work just one hour per week.
        https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/methodologies/aguidetolabourmarketstatistics#employment

        “Government frightened cos they will actually have to work. Instead of just been office boys rubber stamping what the eu tells them.”

        The UK has a veto over most EU bills, but usually votes for them since they make sense.
        You have an MEP you can contact who represents you in any matter, just like you can contact your MP.
        The EU proposes bills that need a majority of MEPs to pass them just in the same way as Parliament does so if you think that your MP isn’t working for you then vote them out in the next election.

        I hope that you can find the time to read all the links I posted because your opinions don’t seem to be based on the facts.

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        • Right on the money Will R. Of course he wont even read your rebuttal never mind the links. He is a brexiter and as such already has his blindfold on and his fingers in his ears. I call it the Two Wise Monkeys syndrome. Unfortunately the third continues spout uninformed or malinformed garbage.

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        • Facts about the NHS from one who was there.

          Prior to joining the common market, the NHS supplemented it’s British Nurses with Commonwealth Nurses, lots of them, often outnumbering the British ones.

          As for having to earn £30,000 before you are allowed in our country to work, this is not true. We have an NHS employing thousands of Phillipino Nurses and let me tell you out of Police,Teachers and firemen, a Nurses pay is at the bottom.

          You would be hard pressed to find a Nurse in the NHS on £30,000 a year and I’m talking about the workers. Not the many (too many) top Nurses who are now Managers with their own offices.

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        • I was going to address a few of these, but you’ve saved me the trouble.
          I will say though, to the ridiculous point “Before we joined, fruit and veg got picked with no problem.” – yeah, maybe, in 1975, when the UK population was 16% smaller, and agricultural product was obviously too, plus people were more willing to take lowly paid jobs than today – try and get Brits to do the crop picking these days – THEY WON’T! How do we know this? Because the farmers / business owners have told us!
          Why? I can take a guess: it’s hard, fiddly, physical work in the sun, the pay is so-so (you’re not gonna get rich from it), and obviously it’s based in the countryside, whereas most Brits who don’t already have jobs are city-dwellers, and aren’t willing to travel a great way for such a job! For about the same pay (esp. after factoring in travel cost and time) they can work in a bar, or a supermarket, or McDonalds, so why woukd they take a harder job for which they have to travel further??

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      • A lot of stupid nonsense here, which Will R has already addressed,but I will say, in the subject of “Before we joined, fruit and veg got picked with no problem.” – yeah, maybe, in 1975, when the UK population was 16% smaller, and agricultural product was obviously too, plus people were more willing to take lowly paid jobs than today – try and get Brits to do the crop picking these days – THEY WON’T! How do we know this? Because the farmers / business owners have told us!
        Why? I can take a guess: it’s hard / fiddly, physical work in the sun, long hours, the pay is so-so (you’re not gonna get rich from it), and obviously it’s based in the countryside, whereas most Brits who don’t already have jobs are city-dwellers, and aren’t willing to travel a great way for such a job! For about the same pay (esp. after factoring in travel cost and time) they can work in a bar, or a supermarket, or McDonalds, so why would they take a harder job for which they have to travel further??

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    • There has been a lot of inaccurate information about the Lisbon Treaty, probably the most reliable source to find out about this is Gov.UK.

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    • Wasting your breath Jenny. As soon as you present a fact to a brexiter their fingers are plunged into their ears and they start singing Rule Britannia.

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    • It don’t look as rosy as made out to be we pay in only to get some of it back a billion a month isn’t worth paying for most of the 98 reasons to stay in

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  3. A lot of bollocks
    With France and Germany as our closest allies we don’t need enemies.
    You are saying we get more money out than we put in, wake up.

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    • You silly person..Greece has managed the bully boys!!Please realise that Together we stand divided we fall!!Why do you think The UNITED States of America ,Russia China,(seen the size??!!) Will be very happy that Europe dose not happen??!God almighty does no one read history isolationism is disastrous..Quite frankly be happy if Ireland and Scotland say goodbye Little Englanders..

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      • Why does the EU allow constant breaking of the rules, without punishment. They don,t punish because children are immature and easily led when they think they are getting away with a little miss conduct, not being chastised or upset,just a gentle talking to. Children then think everything is fine and just carry on being children. (SPARE THE ROD AND SPOIL THE CHILD.)
        Until one day they find the rules apply to them as well and the punishment comes from those they accepted Parental responsibility from. Being led and not leading removes the will to go against things that are of little benefit. Our Parliament has been subject to being led by the EU for such a long time they now cannot make decisions. It seems to me we are walking into an all controlling EU empire which our Remainers want. Or do they?

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    • I object to your insulting and meaningless expletive ~ bol- – -ks Ray. I sincerely regret to say that coarse language seems to be more typical of leavers than remainers; it says more about the sender than the recipient, plus, it attacks the person instead of the issue which gets sidelined, conflict starts, and valuable time is wasted by respectful people like me having to put offenders right on a thing or two regarding constructive debate.

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    • Typically as a brexiter you not only cannot hear when facts are laid out before you but you can’t read either.

      Reply

  5. What about the abolition of the NHS, What about the excessive amount of money being filtered from the UK into the pockets of UN-ELECTED officials of the EU This is nothing but legalised thievery along with being sold into SLAVERY We fought 2 world wars for freedom and Won this is just another WAR Hitler wanted this and concocted this plan so We the majority DO NOT WANT it.

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      • Yes selective memories. Many seem to forget that non- British people contributed to our efforts to rid the world of the tyrant that was Hitler and his regime. It has always been accepted that the whole is more effective than its individual parts. Apologies to the purists if the quote is not exact, but I consider it conveys the same meaning. Isolation will be our downfall.

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    • Where did you fight in the two world wars? You must be at least 120 years old if that’s the case.

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    • Don’t compare this to slavery! We still benefit from plundering countries of their people and resources, it is very tasteless to make the comparison.

      It’s not the EU’s fault that the NHS is in a mess. We benefit from having so many citizens of other EU countries working within our NHS to keep it going – frankly a thankless task right now with the lack of support from management combined with the lack of investment from the government. The Conservative governments have been running a thriving NHS down: I remember the waiting times of the 90s and how it had gradually improved to a top-top system. Seeing how it is struggling now is a massive insult to what it could be.

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    • The abolition of the NHS? The NHS is absolutely nothing to do with the EU. If the NHS is being run down and damaged, it is because of our own government, not the EU. We contribute around 1% of our tax income to the EU budget which facilitates our membership of one of (if not) the biggest free trade areas in the world. The money we gain back from investment and direct business more than pays that back hundreds of times over. We are not slaves. Not sure why you invoke Hitler and WW2 – we are democratic members of a democratic multi-national group. Nobody is forcing anything on anyone who doesn’t like it. If you think we’ve been forced into anything against our will, please let us know what it is!

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    • What a lot of utter bullshit. The only reason we won the war was because America came on board to fight with us! We were losing ….read up on your history.

      Reply

    • Yes we did fight in two world wars and now, as members of the EU, we have the greatest chance of peace.

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    • Not to mention the minor diversion from the Russians which cost them 27 million dead both military and civilian, whilst the USA was setting up camp in the UK to save it. The brexiter schmucks who never even got into an argument face to face, much less got into sniffing distance of a war continue to spout garbage about WWII and and THEY beat Hitler. It makes me sick to my stomach. Of course we were in it but as part of an allied (that means with others you dummies) effort that ultimately prevailed.
      There was a bloke called Churchill ( no doubt a hero of yours) whom I believe had a passing involvement in this skirmish and also the fracas 2 decades earlier. As such a person would you say after a period of reflection on these two distractions he might have something useful, indeed enlightening to say about them both. Well he certainly did and as one of the greatest orators of the 20th century it is worth a read. I suspect you have no clue what he said so I reproduce here part of one of his greatest speeches ever (amongst many) given in Zurich on September 19th 1946. Read it and steel yourself against the content because you won’t like it. There is a lot more but you will hate that so I have spared you.

      “I wish to speak about the tragedy of Europe, this noble continent, the home of all the great parent races of the Western world, the foundation of Christian faith and ethics, the origin of most of the culture, arts, philosophy and science both of ancient and modern times. If Europe were once united in the sharing of its common inheritance there would be no limit to the happiness, prosperity and glory which its 300 million or 400 million people would enjoy. Yet it is from Europe that has sprung that series of frightful nationalistic quarrels, originated by the Teutonic nations in their rise to power, which we have seen in this 20th century and in our own lifetime wreck the peace and mar the prospects of all mankind.

      What is this plight to which Europe has been reduced? Some of the smaller states have indeed made a good recovery, but over wide areas are a vast, quivering mass of tormented, hungry, careworn and bewildered human beings, who wait in the ruins of their cities and homes and scan the dark horizons for the approach of some new form of tyranny or terror. Among the victors there is a Babel of voices, among the vanquished the sullen silence of despair. That is all that Europeans, grouped in so many ancient states and nations, and that is all that the Germanic races have got by tearing each other to pieces and spreading havoc far and wide. Indeed, but for the fact that the great republic across the Atlantic realised that the ruin or enslavement of Europe would involve her own fate as well, and stretched out hands of succour and guidance, the Dark Ages would have returned in all their cruelty and squalor. They may still return.

      Yet all the while there is a remedy which, if it were generally and spontaneously adopted by the great majority of people in many lands, would as by a miracle transform the whole scene and would in a few years make all Europe, or the greater part of it, as free and happy as Switzerland is today. What is this sovereign remedy? It is to recreate the European fabric, or as much of it as we can, and to provide it with a structure under which it can dwell in peace, safety and freedom. We must build a kind of United States of Europe. In this way only will hundreds of millions of toilers be able to regain the simple joys and hopes which make life worth living. The process is simple. All that is needed is the resolve of hundreds of millions of men and women to do right instead of wrong and to gain as their reward blessing instead of cursing.

      Therefore I say to you “Let Europe arise!”

      Bu***r me, Who’d have thought he would say that and get it right, only to see his own People do their damndest to destroy his dream. He will be spinning in his grave.

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  6. The EU does not fund anything. We provide our own funding for everything and pay the EU to give us some of our own money back to pay for what they choose to fund. How ridiculous it all is!

    Reply

    • Cornwall receives £60 million + per year from EU and the government announced last week what it will give in support post Brexshit – £6 million.

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      • It’s our £60 million in the first place, how kind of them to give it back to us, but with conditions of course.

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    • actually just to mention a few, the New Enterprise Allowance (startup grant for new small businesses in the UK), the funds for Social Enterprises, University bursaries and more educational funds and grants are all paid in from the EU.
      cut those and the younger generations will be stuck with nothing other than zero hour contracts concealed as jobs.
      if you hate your children and grandchildren keep wanting to leave.

      Reply

    • Spot on. But the remainers through their rose tinted glasses cant see that.
      They also dont recognise the amount of large companies that have moved to places in europe due to eu bribes and promises.

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  7. Most of it is economics, and all the rest are rules and regulations that we can keep +a few concessions that we can live without.. These are not reason enough to want to stay tied to the undemocratic union, the reasons for leaving are far more important to the people of this country.. This country has lost far more in industry, identity and sovereignty.. We want our country back..

    Reply

    • “We want our country back..”

      I don’t know who “we” but I for one like the country the way it is now.

      “This country has lost far more in industry, identity and sovereignty”

      Just wait until we have to take WTO rules and the remaining industry leaves because it can’t export to the largest trading block on earth tariff free….

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    • The eu are Doing plenty with our money if that is true why is the uk falling to bits when even Mexico has better hospital resources and look after their elderly better than the uk that tells me the eu are robbing us

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      • That’s due to austerity and our government, not the EU. The EU does not get involved in the management of our public services

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        • May be it should! I have recent experience of both UK and Spanish state health services and give me a well organised, extremely thorough and efficient service with single rooms, personal en suite, unlimited visiting times and visitor’s sofa bed (visitor bed clothes provided) to an impersonal ward of 6 or 8 people ( my father in law listened to two people die in beds adjacent to his in a recent two week stay. Victorian) with a curtain as ones only means of privacy anyday. And as for transport! Don’t get me started on the train service compared with the Spanish service and prices. Road network, vastly superior. Police & judicial services, no messing here. No political correctness worries. OK education leaves a lot to be desired but, having taught in both countries, I wouldn’t wish a career in teaching in Britain on anyone. Britain is a dying country unless you are wealthy enough to financially self sufficient to rise above it. And Don’t tell me that it is because of the immigration, I live in a multicultural area with a large European, South American and North African population. No racial tensions unlike the major intolerances of UK society. Britain can learn so much from the European mainland.

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      • The EU isn’t robbing anyone in the NHS. That is purely a part of how OUR government spend its money. Ask, the Tories why its underfunded…

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    • Our industry went because of thatcher she destroyed the mines the shipbuilders and the steel industry’s
      Nothing to do with the EU.

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    • Without rules and regulations, the stuff we purchase in this country would be dangerous, the big cloths shops like next want to Brexit so standards can be done away with and so be cheaper. Sorry but price isnt everything.
      If you believe in climate change, then the EU are doing more in terms of regulation and forcing us to consider the impact.
      Such as the ever growing size of vacuum cleaner motors, the intent was to stop this ever more power hungry units.

      The Americans didn’t want to have smaller more lean petrol engines, which was the same thing as us Brits not wanting to stop this vacuum cleaner motor growth, but thats what they are after now, in fact its the euro models that they so want, not the wasteful American petrol gobling cars.

      Most of the Standards in Petrochemical, machine and plant where most folk work are driven from the EU, with us as a main part in it.

      Then we move on to chickens, ie food quality, I would rather pay a few £ more for great quality.

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  8. You forgot to post that they have taken away our right to govern ourselves, and lined all the unelected MEP’s pockets and given them the life of riley.

    So why would anyone of them want to leave and give all that up?

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    • The fact that you don’t know that MEPs are elected just demonstrates how little knowledge you have of our EU membership

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    • MEPs are elected by their countries just as ours are, by PR. The difference is that, in the main, other countries have elected MEPs that want to make it work and are able politicians. We sent Farage …

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    • Oh dear, Janice; you sound like a typical Daily Mail reader: full of mis-information! I think the only MEP you’ve been listening to is Nigel Farage, who should have been thrown out of the European Parliament a long time ago – mostly for non-attendance and definitely after the extremely rude speech he gave back last year! But, apart from him, our MEPs are a wonderful bunch of politicians, who have worked so very hard – just to get abused by the likes of badly informed people like you.

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    • PAMELA CRUMMAY. And you think that the British parliament is a shining example of how to run the country? Give us a break! It has recently shown how it is run by a core of loud mouthed self serving egocentric rabble. Johnson, Give, JRM. Helping to further humiliate a ruined country.

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  10. When I go on holiday to Southern Europe I see non of the European laws being implemented.So much for equality across Europe shackle Britian free for all everybody else bye bye.

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    • Example please. Or are you just parroting? If you honestly think the money we save will prop up the subsidised industries and Lord knows the NHS and the like, you are delusional. Sovereignty or not the Workd has changed. Get over it..

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  11. I am a small-business person – I have learnt how to recognise utter B/S when I’m being sold it. I also have written pamphlets on various aspects of EU membership. I know EU codswallop when it smacks me in the face. I also couldn’t help but notice you are (or belong to) Brillant British Ltd. You are an advertising agency. You have a very small business – 2 people with the same surname. And you set up with £100 capital not long after the 2016 referendum. Forgive my suspicious nature – but who pays you for this?

    Reply

    • but who pays you for this?

      As a small-business person I would have thought you would know it costs less than £50/year to set-up a website. So not exactly a huge outlay.

      However, if you know where I can get some of this called “free” EU money I’m all ears.

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      • I do not have the time to go through all your 98 reasons to stay, rather than leave, the EU. However, as small businesses are concerned, have you ever tried to set up a business in France for example? My friend and I came up with a idea of selling ice cream and cold drinks on the canal from cap d’agde. He speaks fluent French so we thought that this idea might work. However, we gave up the idea due to the amount of red tape that is in place. I would also like to point out the protectionism of the French when it comes to ski instructors. The next time you go skiing there tell me how many British ski instructors you can find. I have been told that there are so many loops you have to jump that it makes it neigh on impossible to get a permit.
        Please let me know if you think I have got this wrong and starting a small business in the EU is really simple. I would love to know.
        P.S. If you want to use my idea of selling ice cream then dig out. I wish you luck.

        Reply

        • The UK is still in the EU (at least at the time of writing). Very easy to start a business here, which is why there are 5.6 million in the UK. Don’t see how leaving is going to make starting a business any easier, but it will make selling into the EU a whole lot more diffiuclt.

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        • Being in the EU doesn’t make setting up a business in France easy, but it makes it no less hard than if you were French. The point is you have to be treated no worse than if you were a national of that country. If you are being discriminated against, that is an offence and you can take them to court.

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  13. Where do you think the “EU Money” comes from? Unfortunately it does not grow on trees! The U.K. is a net contributor to the EU and since 2000 we have paid out more than £100 billion than we have received back! Excluding Germany, the U.K. contributes more than the combined total of all the other 26 members! No wonder they don’t want us to leave. If this information was originated by owners of small businesses one would have thought they would understand the economics of the EU. In simple terms we pay them money and they give us a lot less back by way of funding various projects with our money! Roll on March 29th when we can cut out the middle man!

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  14. It’s all bullshit because we won’t have any day in how our country is run and that’s the !pat important thing it’s called self governing and that’s why we have voted to LEAVE!

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    • There is no obligation for us to “take the Euro” as that is one of the opt-outs we currently enjoy, along with not being in Schengen plus a few others. At leat, please do try to get your “facts” right.

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  16. point no 9. The EU accounts for 53% of all UK imports of goods and services
    are you telling that after we leave the EU this will be reduced and if so why?

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    • Because any exports will be subject to tariffs, often up to 40%. Our goods will therefore be more expensive on the continent and hence less attractive to purchasers. The only way to avoid this is to have a tariff agreement in place – which won’t happen in time because of its complexity – unless, of course, we don’t leave…

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  17. Every single one of the leave campaigns promises has been revealed to be a lie, there are criminal investigations into the fraudulent nature of the leave campaign, the EU referendum was brought to the British public days after the EU drafted up new tax regulations to prevent wealthy elites from dodging paying tax, I am astonished that anyone in the UK can seriously still support this quite transparent con.

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  18. Well, a lot of that was good for a laugh
    The bits I read, that is. Lots of rubbish and conjecture. Democracy? I don’t think so.!

    Reply

    • i have tried to ask that question also. i have managed to put one question. admin reply:
      “selling into the EU a whole lot more difficult.”
      ME: I tried to reply. however i think you only get one go at discussions here. lets see if you get this
      It amazes me that we ever survived before 1973.

      Ok, so I did not put my point across very well. You have to admit that the EU are hypocrites.
      For example your reasons for staying points 54 and 55.
      1. Common EU greenhouse gas emissions targets (19% reduction from 1990 to 2015)
      2. Improvements in air quality (significant reductions in sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides) as a result of EU legislation
      Can you explain to me why once a month they move office from Brussels to Strasbourg for four days!
      Now, I am quoting figures from the telegraph web site ( they happen to be at the top of my google search), so this maybe fake news!
      It is estimated that it takes 5 lorries to transfer all the documents back and forth from said sites.

      Quote: For an EU obsessed by climate change and its possible effects, more embarrassing is the report’s admission that “10,200 tonnes of CO2 per year would be saved if Strasbourg were no longer used as a place of work”. That is the equivalent of 12,000 cars driving around the circumference of the world.

      All MEP’s get first class travel and stay in hotels, the hotels increase their rates by more than100% during this time, happy days if you own a hotel in Strasbourg. The cost for this is approximately 150m euros per year for this fiasco.

      One thing that I will lament, when we leave the EU, is the free flow of workforces. As a businessman, I have had a number of people from Europe working for me and, to be honest I would rather have Europeans working for me than Brits! They seem to me more honest and diligent than Brits! The only people I have sacked were Brits who stole from me. PS, I own a convenience store.

      Another concern I have is the rise of right wing parties in the EU. I class myself as a moderate right of center. Of which, some people may call me a right wing fascist/ racist! I hope not. You have to look of both sides of what is going on in Europe and as you can appreciate as a democratic society we need to look at what is going on within the EU. Unfortunately, the bureaucrats in Brussels are trying to take away our freedom by implementing laws that, in some cases, are not conductive with how the people in different states of the EU want.
      One example is the fishing industry of our country. They have been one of the most vociferous of leaving the EU. WHY?

      I look forward to your comments.
      PPS, I have not commented on your Cornish issue yet.

      Reply

      • Since it is the EU policy to welcome Immigrants/Refugees from outside the EU, would it be possible for the EU to pay for this out of the contributions the member states make at least for the first 5 years.
        Such things as child benefits when a transit worker has children but does not have children in the country they work in should be paid at the rate of the country the child resides in up to the cost of the benefits of the country the worker is in.
        Or is it a fact that the UK is not diligent in enforcing such a rule because we have borders that are open to allowing movement without checks. This freedom of movement thing allows theft and lawlessness to occur. Everyone who transits between EU countries should stop at borders or before they transit and register their passport or ID this includes children and could be done days before travelling
        There are computer systems which could automatically pass the information to the exit/entry country and x reference the records. Payments could automatically stop/start iaw the information on file.
        This would not restrict freedom of movement or be an invasion of privacy any more than what an air traveler has to go through. I would be willing to accept such situations if I was in receipt of similar benefits. Better still would be benefits only when the citizen can prove that they are on hard times and have in the past tried to save money for such hardship circumstances. May I be so bold as to suggest a sliding scale of savings in line with earnings. The minimum earnings rule would allow for such a savings enviroment.

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  20. No’s 72 + 74, good luck getting /keeping a job if you work in the hospitality industry and emergency services etc.

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  23. you don’t need to be married to the people you work with. the larger a political entity, the less it’s people are represented, which is why we need to go in the opposite direction to a united states of europe.

    i could probably address most of these points but the first one is worth invalidating, the ‘clout’ myth. the eu is not set up for britains purposes. the other 27 nations do not have britains best interest foremost in their minds, they will all pull in their own direction. the correct comparison is between britains clout on the world stage (5th largest economy, probably 6th soon, thx to india rising) and 1/28th of the clout of the eu. if you’re not being dishonest, that’s the comparison to make.

    we must save this country from a nightmare of a pointless and ridiculous united states of europe project.

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  25. 94 Reasons to stay in? If had the time I could discredit 75% of them.
    There are so many lines there that are just total BS to make up the numbers. The UK leads the way world wide in human rights, The EU has no monopoly on that, nor does it mean that if we leave, we lose our rights. They just wrote it into their laws, they didn’t INVENT it.
    When the EU army becomes a reality, they will be looking for 2% of the UK GDP to fund it. Just as we pay into NATO. Are the other 27 going to put up 2% too, will they stuff. When the Argentinians decide to have another pop at the Falklands, will the EU send their combined Army to repel them? I will let you answer that one.

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  26. All of it.! Majority of these comments are penned by Remainders whose lifestyles have, no doubt beneifitted from being in the EU..

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    • Suggest many of you discuss your points with hard evidence, it is so important you should find the time to do so. One line answers suggest to me that you lack the knowledge of what is happening!!!!h. Have sadly not had the opportunities to travel, work, holiday in Europe and have friends from European countries. Many of my former work colleagues astound me with their
      very right wing views, follow Tommy Robinson and base their one line comments about individual personalities. Many show selected videos, they lack the ability to to be articulate with their discussions / arguments. 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇪🇺🇫🇷🇪🇸👍👋🇪🇺

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  29. You saw that suspicious school teacher admit that we are spending record amounts on education but the per capita is down. Simple maths. Many more children. Product of immigration. No planning for extra numbers when they were admitted. Now the bill is in and the benefits in revenue don’t meet the bill. Failed business plan. Need another.
    It looks like large parts of the money earned by immigrants is being spent back home. Our producers are not getting the benefit in purchasing. Hence revenue shortfall Failed business plan. Get it.
    Finally we have always been a welcoming haven. If people however, object to the very nature of their community changing discomforting them they are entitled to protest. Some of you have got to stop deciding for others what is right and then imposing it on others

    Reply

    • I bet you you can’t.

      And remain reasons are mostly advantages, not “scaremongering”, as you could have CLEARLY SEEN if you’d read any of them.
      The scaremongering belongs squarely to your isolationist, small-minded Leaver camp, every single Leaver “reason” (the specific ones are nonsense, the others are unproven ideological ones) is based in some fear or some made-up outrage that’s been stoked up by the tabloids for the last 30 years, allowed to run rampant, almost unchallenged, and then repeated and amplified by the bent Leave campaigns of 2016.

      I bet you can’t prove you passionately cared about leaving the EU before 2016, can you?

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  31. 9% of our GDP is exports to the EU. That is reducing and has been for some time. trade with the rest of the world (ROW) is expanding. But on leaving the EU we would still keep the great majority of that trade (it is in the UE’s interest as they have a massive surplus with us).

    The EU is embarked on ever closer union, and, after the Lisbon Treaty and QMV, even if we stayed in the EU we would have very little influence in most areas of policy – including fiscal, external trade, border, immigration, foreign policy and 80% of our law. Policy would largely be determined by the large euro countries on behalf of the large euro countries – Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands.

    All the items telling us the EU contributes to Cornwall, sport, British film industry, British theatre, the environment etc. Well we pay more to the EU than we get back, so there is no cost issue in our supporting all those areas that we want to support. And we even get to decide which ones we wish to support.

    If we left the EU and had NO trade deals with the rest of the world on a tariff free basis, then using a model by a Cardiff professor of economics cost of living would FALL by 7% (as the EU slaps large tariffs on much of the stuff we buy from the ROW).

    I could go on, but the key points are allover the internet for anyone who is actually interested in finding out the facts.

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    • Wow, this all sounds so reasonable – at least it’s not written in the typicalparanoid Leaver style – shame it’s all bunkum, and has been debunked elsewhere on this page (above), if you care to read.
      But I will address this:

      “All the items telling us the EU contributes to Cornwall, sport, British film industry, British theatre, the environment etc. Well we pay more to the EU than we get back, so there is no cost issue in our supporting all those areas that we want to support. And we even get to decide which ones we wish to support.”- yes, if only we would – but the government has underfunded many of the above, the arts, the environment, it has abandoned economically deprived areas, which the EU then stepped in to help. Could we do more ourselves, through our government? Yes. Do we? No. Why? You’d have to ask the government. Uncaring, incompetent, more concerned with other issues – take your pick.

      Reply

  32. Is this list US-written?
    Clues include 82. Pedophiles, 86. License, 91. Labeling – all US spellings.

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  33. what is the truth? with almost equally divided desire how is everyone satisfied ? honest people want the best for everyone, good people the world over help others in need without any thought of gain.an honest deal should be equally beneficial ,where are all the good educated experienced people willing to give their time freely to stand for the good of the world ?.until we elect such people we will always have discontent .history is prologue if we fail to learn from past experience we will have a repeat. best wishes to everyone to happ[ness whatever the outcome.

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  34. 98 reasons and yet still people on don’t believe, nay say, Project Fear – are these people blind or can they just not read ? What is it that so blights their lives that they blame the EU for, moreover are they so gullible as to believe that once we’ve left the idiots in Westminster will wake up and turn the country into a new nirvana. People, they can’t even sort this out so do you really, really think we’ll be better off out of the EU – look in the mirror it might hurt, but get with the programme, smell the coffee and enjoy the peace, freedom and prosperity we’ve all enjoyed over the last 40 years. Or don’t continue to live your sad introverted, backward looking lives but the future is connected, young people see no borders and they will tear barriers down so leave by all means and cheer your hollow undoubtedly short lived victory and yes there will still be a north south divide, pot holes won’t get filled, the NHS will remain underfunded and who will you blame then ?

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  35. Although we are not in the uro. I understand the UK, during Brown’s era underwrote a firewall for the uro.
    1 How much money are we liable for. So much per person would be usefull.
    2 How much oversight does the UK government have over the central bank that controls the uro. I appreciate as we are not in the uro it is none of our business but we will be effected if it goes belly up in many ways.

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  36. When Einstein wrote his papers on relativity, a book was published ‘100 authors against Einstein’ arguing against his position. Einstein responded by saying ‘If I were wrong, then one author would have been enough!’ ….. likewise, you may have 98 reasons to remain in the EU, but i only need one reason for leaving, and that one reason is far more important than all your 98 collectively.

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  37. Given up reading your 98 page garbage, only thing that’s relevant is at the end of the day is UK politicians have given our country to foreign hands to run, and the little people like me WANT OUR COUNTRY BACK OK

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  38. The EU is a parasite – sucking the resources of the wealthy states – only giving us back a percentage of our donations… It is primarily a protectionist federal organisation which exists to back the globalist agenda, It’s laws and regulations present huge barriers to entry for small and medium sized business. It is a caner, a gravy train and it needs to be destroyed as soon as possible before it destroys the potential for European countries. Thank goodness we are leaving and taking back control.

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  39. You Leavers imagine yourself freedom fighters, saving your country from oppression — it’s all very melodramatic but totally fictional. Is the EU bashing you up when you demonstrate against it? Are they closing down your TV and radio stations when you speak out against it? Are they burning your newspapers? Are any Leave heroes lingering in EU jails?

    Please do a bit of research before believing fake news and populist propaganda.

    https://lucie4eu.blogspot.com/

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  40. The reason the imports are high are because the tariffs which are imposed to the rest of the world! Remove those tariffs and there’s no problem.

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  41. Reason 99 South America , Africa and other regions are moving towards similar set ups to the EU and a sma(sand like Britain would be left behinf

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  43. 1) There are 7.2 billion other consumers outside of the EU, representing 77% of GDP.
    2) The UK had no influence around the EU table, David Cameron proved that pre-referendum, otherwise he could’ve triggered reform within the EU, and then many wouldn’t have voted leave.
    3) The EU isn’t a military state, yet, so provides no counterweight to the US, China, or Russia, that’s what NATO does.
    4) That makes no sense given Trump has already promised a US-UK deal, and there’s no such thing that suggest the US as an ally has weakened, arguably stronger than ever now Johnson is PM,
    5) The EU tariffs non-EU heavily, particularly Africa, which prevents competition and keeps prices artificially higher.
    6) Quotas, and administrative rules actually harms some UK industries, and over regulation harms startups.
    7) There’s nothing to suggest the UK can’t have an agreement with Canada or Japan, and it certainly won’t take 10 years, because Romania had a separate issue connected with visas. French MEP Mr Bardella said “CETA is a disaster and will directly threaten 500,000 jobs in the French cattle industry. The EU rushed through the Japan deal to avoid paying taxes when the UK leaves the EU as all Japanese cars in Europe are made in the UK.
    8) and 9) All UK exports and imports figures are skewed due to the fact EU currently prevents any member state having an independent trade deal outside of the EU, expect these figures to change once the UK in able to trade with 7.2 billion people.
    10) Professor Patrick Minford, a world-renowned economist, states food and alcohol would drop 8% in cost after leaving the EU.
    11) As stated in 2) the UK has no influence, on 72 occasions in the Council of Ministers where the United Kingdom has opposed a particular measure, not once has any of those been successful, losing all 72.
    12) How many jobs could be created trading with 7.2 billion people!
    13) and 14) There will be no doors shut from skills needed, that’s already been stated, visas will be given for jobs that need to be filled.
    15) Footballers, will always get work permits, especially those who meet work permit requirements, many from South America and Africa already play in the UK.
    16) Leaving the EU will not affect the UK stock/investment industry negatively given the UK is the EU’s financial powerhouse, plus the US has traditionally been our biggest source of investment, and 2018 China was our biggest source of investment, Since 2015 the EU has seen an 43% drop in foreign direct investment, with Germany’s banks in crisis, that won’t improve anytime soon.
    17) see 16).
    18) Paperwork or no paperwork doesn’t stop exports, 2017 the UK exported £202bn to the US, and 22.3bn to China, both in upward trends year on year. Both in the UK top 5 exported to countries.
    19) Currency commissions are often hidden/included in the currency exchange rate, regardless of currency.
    20) FDI from all sources has increased since 1974.
    21) Comparing net contribution to defence spending isn’t an argument, it’s a statement.
    22) How many British travellers actually travel across more than one European border in a car! They still have to go through the ‘time consuming” border checks when leaving the UK, and we still do it. This doesn’t affect 99% of Brits. Lack of border checks can also aid criminals, see 82)..
    23) London as a “financial bridge” will continue to do so, the next biggest financial city in Europe is Frankfurt, and it doesn’t come close to London, and with Germany’s banks in crisis, it’s unlikely financial companies with leave stable London for financial uncertainty in Germany.
    24) British banks and insurance companies also operate across the world without hindrance. HSBC, Prudential, Llyods Group and Avia, to name a few, with a combined revenue of $340bn in 2017.
    25) Cornwall could also see its local produces exports increase as the UK trades with 7.2 billion people, plus the county would receive a share of the £163.2bn commitments the UK has to the EU, an increase of 3.2% (or £5.3m) from 2018, as that massive commitment wouldn’t exist. Given the UK is only one of 11 net contributors, second largest at that and we put in more than we receive, it’s likely that £750m came from the UK in the first place.
    26) See 25), a percentage of £163.2bn could be used for “structural funding”.
    27) See above.
    28) See above.
    29) See above.
    30) See above.
    31) See above.
    32) See above.
    33) European capitals of culture is hit and miss, Liverpool and Glasgow are tourist cities, and will always benefit from tourist income, Hull however, is not, the argument from many city and town councillors is that instead of wasting the money on “cultural” events and temporary structures. Money could be spent on restoring historical cities and towns, and regenerating others, that would increase their economies in the long term. Hull is still the shit hole it always was.
    34) EU competition laws do nothing to prevent monopolies, Google and Facebook hold at least a 90% monopoly, Microsoft not far behind. As does ABinBev, who make Budweiser and Corona to name two, and Unilever.
    35) Strict controls on Multinational Corporations? So how come Café Nero, Vodaphone, Gap, Waterstones, and EE paid zero tax in 2017, and Apple and Amazon barely paid anything in relation to their profits.
    36) Humans Rights is already protected by UK common law, and the English Bill of Rights 1689, and The UN Declaration of Human Rights 1948, the EU’s ECHR is just a rewording and an addendum that standardises law across the EU states, the ECHR is based on British and UN human rights law.
    37) The death penalty is not compatible with UK law, Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965, and abolished in 1969 (the last person executed in the UK was in 1946), predating the existence of the EU, the UK remains one of 141 countries to have abolished the death penalty.
    38) “Minority languages” are already protected, for example under The Welsh Language Act 1993.
    39) People can reside in any country they meet the requirements of. Around 5-6m British people reside abroad, of which the top 5 countries are USA and Canada (1.7m), Australia (1.2m) Spain (330,000), New Zealand (314,000), South Africa (306,000), even India/Bangladesh has 313,000. So the notion the EU makes it easier isn’t supported by the figures.
    40) See above as guideline, visa or no visa, if people have skills, they will be employed. And that won’t be any different in the EU, in fact 1.4 million working people in the EU are from outside the EU, who had to apply for visas and permits, that’s more than the combined number of Brits working in other EU countries.
    41) and 42) Qualifications gained in the UK are also recognised globally, UK teachers have worked in many countries where English isn’t a first language for example.
    43) Language proficiency standards are a good thing, but doesn’t affect the UK, the UK already had good proficiency standards prior to CEFR.
    44) and 45) University exchanges happen globally, many universities have US exchanges, some have China, Japanese and South American exchanges.
    46) see 39) and 40), there’s nothing stopping a person setting up a business in any country around the world providing they follow local regulations.
    47) If you gain residency in any country you choose to live and work in, you’re also free to retire there.
    48) There’s nothing stopping people from transferring pensions to or from other non-EU countries. It’s possible to do it in Australia!
    49) Given that the UK has lost all 72 of its oppositions, the question is, does our vote do anything in the EU, so “our right” is null and void.
    50) UK people are able to buy property in non-EU countries.
    51) The EIHC card only covers basic health needs, and costs are still likely. Travel Insurance is still a recommendation even when travelling in Europe.
    52) The UK consular protects Brits regardless of the EU, and did so prior to the EU’s existence.
    53) The EU claims it’s done lots to combat climate change, while Germany still burns the dirtiest coal, Lignite/brown coal, the port of Marseille, at Fos-sur-Mer, one of the largest industrial and port zones in Europe has been spewing a noxious cocktail of fumes for years. In France there are 48,000 premature deaths due to fine particle pollution. Those are just two examples.
    54) The UK has reduced its emissions by 43% between 1990 and 2019, a much higher reduction than the EU’s 19%.
    55) see 53, clearly EU legislation isn’t enough to reduce air pollution, The UK also has its own framework to improve air quality and has done since before 2015, and a new bill Environmental Bill is due to be passed.
    56) and 58) UK water and sewage companies already abide by UK regulations and laws. Also see 58).
    57) UK beaches and bather waters were improved by the privatisation on the water companies, 2 years prior to the EU directives, but yes those directives did help push through UK regulations sooner.
    58) Water in certain EU state members are still not recommended for drinking, and bottled water is advised. In the UK, were have a 99.9% standard in quality, one of the highest in the world.
    59) and 60) Yet 3 – 4 million tons of waste and recycling is sent to countries like China, Indonesia, India and Africa. For example paper, plastic and metal trash exported from Europe rose tenfold from 1995 to 2007.
    61) Many transportation and disposal of toxic waste regulations came from worldwide convention agreements, such as the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal international treaty, which 187 parties signed.
    62) World Health Organisation guidelines (1999) were the forerunner to EU regulations, and US law (1972) before WHO guidelines.
    63) Many of the largest wind farms are in China, India, and the United States. In the EU, the UK and Romania have largest wind farms. All EU wind farms were commissioned later than any found in the US, so yes, although the EU now is one of the world’s leaders, that’s only came about in the last 10 years. One major concern the EU refuses to listen to is the harm wind farms may cause to wildlife, specifically birds.
    64) Vehicle safety has been ongoing since the 1920s, with the first crash test in the 1930s. In 1958, the United Nations established the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations, an international standards body advancing auto safety, the EU regulations fall in line with international standards.
    65) There have been endangered species and habitats policies, regulations, laws etc, worldwide, that predate Natura 2000 network. The UK also follows its own Wildlife and habitat conservation policies and regulations.
    66) Animal testing was banned in the UK in 1997, 12 years before the EU, the UK had and still has the strictest laws in the world, guided by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986. The EU is one of 7 parties to have banned animal testing.
    67) The World Health Organisation works with all Medicines Regulatory Authorities, even if the UK leaves the EMA, standards will remain the same if not similar.
    68) The UK Government has ring fenced £6.9bn for Science Capital commitments.
    69) Minus the “EU funds” that’s still £6.2bn!
    70) See 25)
    71) The International Atomic Energy Agency, and the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) founded in 1986 after the Chernobyl disaster, precedes Euratom. The UK is the world’s leader is nuclear waste recycling and disposal.
    72) Although yes, the EU implements a directive for annual leave, it is not standardised across the EU and varies from member state to member state.
    73) The EU and European law didn’t exist in 1957!!
    74), 75), and 76) EU directives that have clearly benefited everyone, again they vary from member state to member state, however the UK will unlikely abolish the laws in principle given the fact the UK already offers above the minimum requirements.
    77) Most countries have anti-discrimination laws and many will be based on international laws, such as Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1965, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979, Convention concerning Migrations in Abusive Conditions and the Promotion of Equality of Opportunity and Treatment of Migrant Workers, 1975, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006
    78) The UK already has the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 that does the same job as EU health and safety law.
    79) The UN Declaration of Human Rights 1948 provides at Article 23(1) that everyone is entitled to “just and favourable conditions of work”, and at Article 23(4) that “everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.”, the EU reproduced the phraseology for its own law. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966 by Article 8(1)(a) protects “the right of everyone … to join the trade union of his choice … for the promotion and protection of his economic and social interests.” Article 8(1)(d) specifically protects the right to strike. Whilst the right to bargain collectively is not specifically mentioned, it is inherent in the right to trade union membership. Again, the EU used similar wording.
    80) So, the same and less as, if we leave then, our own currency, and increased control over borders!
    81) 44% of the UK contribution is never seen again! That’s £71.8bn.
    82) Because that’s worked! People smuggling in Europe has expanded so dramatically in recent years that it is now comparable to the illegal drugs market, a Europol report warned. Criminal networks offering services facilitating illegal movement within the EU has emerged as one of the most profitable and widespread activities for organised crime in Europe, according to the latest major crime report by the EU’s own law enforcement agency.
    83) Interpol facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime control, and is a politically neutral organisation.
    84) Intellectual property is protected by UK law and the World Intellectual Property Organization, regardless of country intellectual property is always protected.
    85) EU consumer law is based off The United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection, in the UK, our own Consumer Laws still offer a stricter framework then the EU directives.
    86) Food labels have been heavily regulated in the US since the early 1990s, the EU were only following suit, just 20 years later!
    87) There are still many food additives being used in the EU that experts have lobbied to be banned, such as E171. There is generally a worldwide conclusion and subsequent banning on harmful hormones and addictives.
    88) The prominence of UK-owned airlines, BA parent IAG and EasyJet among them, and the importance of Heathrow as a major European hub will make continued membership of ECAA highly likely.
    89) All airlines follow the guidelines recommended by the International Air Transport Association, so most airlines have a contractual obligation regardless of EU law.
    90) British energy firms charge the most for electricity in Europe, so no, the EU hasn’t lowered prices for UK consumers, 2018 was a record rise in prices in the UK, with an average of over 10% increase.
    91) Recognition of the common European driving license does not mean there is an equal standard of driving, nor does it mean a driver understands a state’s road laws. Having an international driving license is recognised globally, but again does not mean the driver understands a state’s road laws.
    92) Despite the PTS, the UK still has tight pet travel and entry regulations, as does Japan. The PETS scheme is not yet standardised, the regulations may differ for travel within, and outside, Europe.
    93) Many phone carriers provide roaming free outside of the EU, Three for example covers 71 countries, beyond that specified of legislation.
    94) Since the Republic of Ireland modified its constitution in 1999, removing its territorial claims to the whole of the island of Ireland, and the UK yielded direct rule of Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement is all but a symbolic piece of paper.
    95) Since 1949, citizens from the Republic of Ireland have had the right to freely enter, reside and work in the UK.
    96) The Treaty of Rome 1973 and the UK Act of Accession gives Gibraltar its “special status”, not the EU, the EU did not exist then!
    97) The Iberian Union between Spain and Portugal happened in 1578, long before the EU. Modern peace in the two countries were down the demise military coups, and not anything the EU did.
    98) Intercultural dialogue has been happening since humans discovered other continents, this isn’t a new thing.

    Reply

  44. 99. we need to stay in the EU, the Eu makes the internet safe by making webmasters inform us that their website uses cookies. you know those little packets of data which may or may not store your login event, when you last visited etc. I think it would have been a better use of a button to force websites which track, and log personal information about an individuals activities, you know like facebook who continues to track where you go even when you leave Facebook, unless you have ad blockers, cookie grabbers, location fakers, and really lock down your browser.

    Reply

  45. What about the global warming we would be contributing towards.Having to import our goods over much longer distances,using air transport,and shipping over great distances.This will accelerate our carbon footprint massively.

    Reply

  46. 98 Reasons To Stay In The EU: Benefits Of Membership For The UK
    https://smallbusinessprices.co.uk/remain-eu/?fbclid=IwAR3VvYhljCXuzpZmjs8sjLN4WNHfV007hQL1RWBvtr2PWgKz68FY78LdHNo
    A lot of padding and repeating “benefits” to reach to 98 points. Hence, I grouped “benefits” when they had the same answer

    No mention of democracy or sovereignty, I wonder why.

    Even if these points had been correct, they weren’t, we would have voted leave anyway.

    The exit poll by Lord Ashcroft, after the referendum in 2016, found that leavers voted

    1st Sovereignty
    2nd Immigration
    3rd No power over EU expansion

    https://lordashcroftpolls.com/2016/06/how-the-united-kingdom-voted-and-why/
    Now to the 98 points. My answer in dark blue

    1. Membership of the world’s largest trading bloc with over 500 million consumers, representing 23% of global GDP
    The 23% is reducing very fast and 90% of the global growth is expected outside the EU.
    There are no economies of scale. Our importers do not receive a discount because the EU buys certain amount.
    2. The UK has greater global influence as a member of the EU
    Why? Who says so the EU?
    3. The EU provides a counterweight to the global power of the US, Russia and China

    Why do we need a counterweight? Defensively we have NATO. Trade wise we have the world and the special relationship with the Commonwealth

    4. With Trump in the White House the UK’s strongest natural allies are France, Germany and our other West European neighbours
    We have more chance to rekindling the special relationship with Trump that we would have done with EU loving Obama.
    USA and the UK have been defending the West via NATO
    5. Tariff-free trade within the EU
    6. The abolition of non-tariff barriers (quotas, subsidies, administrative rules etc.) among members
    Any country that has an FTA with the EU enjoys that without having to implement regulations for 100 of business and pay a subscription. For those who don’t realise, only businesses involved in an export trade have to follow the regulations of their customers. In the EU 100% of our businesses have to implement the expensive bureaucratic industry specific regulations.
    7. Participation in free trade agreements with Japan and Canada as an EU member
    The trade agreements that the EU signed weren’t to gives us advantage but the 28 countries. It is much better having FTAs tailored to our needs and the other country’s needs.
    8. The EU accounts for 44% of all UK exports of goods and services
    The figure is in dispute because anything that goes via Rotherham to the rest of the world, is counted as an EU export.
    Also, who said we would stop trading with the EU after Brexit?
    9. The EU accounts for 53% of all UK imports of goods and services
    Only because we have to apply the external tariff to protect the inefficiencies of non-UK farmers regarding food.

    Again, who said we would stop trading with the EU after Brexit?
    10. Cheaper food and alcohol imports from continental Europe
    This is no true, if we leave the CU, we could get food cheaper from anywhere else, considerably cheaper.
    If you are worried about particular food and drink from the EU, an FTA would sort it.
    11. As a member of the EU the UK maintains a say in the shaping of the rules governing its trade with its European partners

    An FTA rules the trade between two countries without a political union

    12. 3.1 million jobs in the UK are directly linked to exports to the EU
    Yes, to exports, not to membership of the EU.
    Again, who said we would stop trading with the EU after Brexit?

    13. Free movement of labour has helped UK firms plug skills gaps (translators, doctors, plumbers)
    What’s wrong in having the best person for the job from a worldwide pool? Why do we have to discriminate in favour of EU citizens?
    14. Free movement of labour has helped address shortages of unskilled workers (fruit picking, catering)

    There will be allowances towards seasonal workers. Regarding other unskilled, let’s have those needed not those that are cheaper and bring down the wages of UK citizens.

    15. The Single Market has brought the best continental footballers to the Premier League
    Just for the money. You did not get Messi though and how long did Ronaldo last? I am sure there will be allowances for sports people as there have been for scientist visas.
    16. The EU accounts for 47% of the UK’s stock of inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), worth over $1.2 trillion
    17. Access to the EU Single Market has helped attract investment into the UK from outside the EU
    18. No paperwork or customs for UK exports throughout the single market

    An FTA would have the same effect

    19. Price transparency and removal of commissions on currency transactions across the Eurozone

    We are not in the Eurozone.

    20. FDI into the UK has effectively doubled since the creation of the EU Single Market
    Why would we lose it?
    21. The UK’s net contribution to the EU budget is around €7.3bn, or 0.4% of GDP (less than an eighth of the UK’s defence spending)

    This is not correct
    In 2016 (https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/publicsectorfinance/articles/theukcontributiontotheeubudget/2017-10-31

    Gross Contribution 18.9 billion
    Rebate (5)
    Credits /grants (4.4)

    Net contribution 9.4 (should be 9.5 but ONS rounded it down)
    Why should we pay for free trade?

    22. No time-consuming border checks for travellers (apart from in the UK)
    This could be kept by an FTA – visa free travel
    23. The City of London, as a global financial hub, has acted as a bridge between foreign business and the EU
    The City of London is the No 1 financial hub in the world. Nothing to do with the EU.
    It will continue being a global financial hub
    24. British banks and insurance companies have been able to operate freely across the EU

    Only due to passporting as the SM does not include services
    Again, an FTA will sort this, no need for a pollical union

    25. Cornwall receives up to £750 million per year from the EU Social Fund (ESF)
    26. Structural funding for areas of the UK hit by industrial decline (South Wales, Yorkshire)
    27. Support for rural areas under the European Agricultural Fund for Regional Development (EAFRD)
    28. EU funding for infrastructure projects in the UK including £122 million for the “
    29. Financial support from the EU for over 3,000 small and medium enterprises (
    30. EU funding for the British film industry
    31. EU funding for British theatre, music and dance
    32. EU funding for British sport, including football apprenticeships, tennis and rugby league
    Our money recycled at a very high cost, see point 21 where it shows that we have to spend nearly £1.40 to receive 44p back

    We can do the same ourselves at 44p cost not £1.40
    33. Glasgow (1990) and Liverpool (2008) benefitted from being European capitals of culture, stimulating their local economies
    We are not leaving Europe
    34. EU competition laws protect consumers by combatting monopolistic business practices
    35. Strict controls on the operations of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in the EU
    Do they? The EU’s lobbying is second only to USA’s. FTSE100 companies lobby for expensive regulations that they can afford. This keeps competition out and we, the consumer, lose out
    36. Human Rights protected under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
    We are leaving the EU not the ECHR
    37. The death penalty can never be reintroduced as it is incompatible with EU membership
    38. Minority languages such as Welsh and Irish are recognized and protected under EU law
    We are leaving the EU not the ECHR – if we don’t have already this protection, we can introduce it.
    39. The right to reside in any EU member state
    I am sure if we are self-financing any country will accept us. Otherwise, if we are good enough what’s wrong in competing with other nationalities about EU jobs?
    40. The freedom to work in 28 countries without visa and immigration restrictions

    Nothing wrong with competing for jobs and an FTA could have some arrangements

    41. The mutual recognition of professional qualifications has facilitated the free movement of engineers, teachers and doctors across the EU

    An FTA can sort this. For example, my ICAEW qualification is accepted in USA and we do not have an FTA with them, neither does the EU

    42. The mutual recognition of educational diplomas
    Are you saying that the EU won’t recognise UK qualifications? See point 45
    43. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has standardized assessment of language proficiency across the EU

    We have or had the Cambridge Board for recognition of languages

    44. The freedom to study in 28 countries (many EU universities teach courses in English and charge lower fees than in the UK)
    Erasmus and an FTA are the solution
    45. The Erasmus programme of university exchanges (benefitting 16000 UK students a year)
    Not need to be in the EU to be part of Erasmus if we pay the subscription. Again, an FTA would define our involvement
    The EU has 5 Universities in the top 20 ranking, after 1 November 2019 it will have none.
    46. The freedom to set up a business in 28 countries
    Under a lot of bureaucracy anyway, I know because we set up a SRL in France. An FTA will do the same. We can set up a business anywhere in the world, not due to the EU, but due to globalisation.
    47. The ability to retire in any member state
    Are you saying that if anyone who wants to retire in ANY country and takes savings and UK pensions to spend, they would not be allowed?

    Poppycock. Furthermore, this point was unnecessary as point 39 included this 😊
    48. Pension transferability
    Again, an FTA would sort this
    49. The right to vote in local and European Parliamentary elections if resident in any member state

    I don’t think we will be interested in voting for the EU parliament. There is no European Parliament. The local vote can be sorted by an FTA or a mutual agreement but surely one should become resident if one is interested in participating in the democratic process of the host country.
    50. EU laws making it easier for British people to buy property on the continent
    People bought property in Europe before the EU
    51. The right to receive emergency healthcare in any member state (EHIC card)

    Again, an FTA or mutual agreement if it’s that important. What’s wrong with travel health insurance?

    52. Consular protection from any EU embassy outside the EU
    I rather have the embassy of my own country protecting me. Again, if it is that important a mutual agreement or FTA
    53. The EU has played a leading role in combatting global warming (Paris 2015 climate change conference)
    We are not leaving the Paris accord.
    54. Common EU greenhouse gas emissions targets (19% reduction from 1990 to 2015)

    Our targets are better than that.

    55. Improvements in air quality (significant reductions in sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides) as a result of EU legislation

    56. Reductions in sewage emissions
    57. Improvements in the quality of beaches and bathing water
    58. EU standards on the quality of drinking water
    59. Restrictions on landfill dumping
    60. EU targets for recycling
    61. Common EU regulations on the transportation and disposal of toxic waste
    62. The implementation of EU policies to reduce noise pollution in urban areas
    63. EU policies have stimulated offshore wind farms
    64. Strict safety standards for cars, buses and trucks
    65. Protection of endangered species and habitats (EU Natura 2000 network)
    66. Strict ban on animal testing in the cosmetics industry
    Who is saying we won’t follow those directives? Furthermore, the EU works in the principle that once it enacts one directive in an area, individual countries cannot. So, because we have outsourced to the EU (forced to) certain areas, doesn’t mean once a sovereign country, we cannot do them ourselves

    67. Membership of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) which monitors the quality and safety of medicines (until recently located in London)
    We can do ourselves. An FTA could sort this out as well. I know who would lose more out if they don’t offer us mutual recognition.
    68. 13% of EU budget earmarked for scientific research and innovation
    69. The UK receives £730 million a year in EU funding for research
    70. EU funding for UK universities

    Our money recycled at a very high cost, see point 21 where it shows that we have to spend nearly £1.40 to receive 44p back

    71. Cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy as a member of Euratom

    FTA or agreement? Do we really need to be a member? What about international bodies doing the same?

    72. Minimum paid annual leave and time off work (Working Time Directive)
    73. Equal pay between men and women enshrined in European law since 1957

    This is not correct

    http://www.equalpayportal.co.uk/the-law/

    74. The right to work no more than 48 hours a week without paid overtime
    75. Minimum guaranteed maternity leave of 14 weeks for pregnant women
    76. Rights to a minimum 18 weeks of parental leave after child birth
    77. EU anti-discrimination laws governing age, religion and sexual orientation
    78. EU rules governing health and safety at work
    79. The rights to collective bargaining and trade union membership are enshrined in EU employment law
    Who is saying we won’t follow those directives? Furthermore, the EU works in the principle that once it enacts one directive in an area, individual countries cannot. So, because we have outsourced to the EU (forced to) certain areas, doesn’t mean once a sovereign country, we cannot do them ourselves

    The UK was more advanced in workers’ rights before the EU started legislation on that area
    80. The UK enjoys an opt out from the single currency and maintains full control of its borders as a non-member of the Schengen area

    As a sovereign, independent country we will have all this anyway and more.

    81. Since 1985 the UK has received a budget rebate equivalent to 66% of its net contribution to the EU budget

    Poppycock

    Hardly, 5 billion is 66% of the gross 19 billion see point 21

    Calculating the size of the UK’s annual rebate is complex. Broadly, the UK gets back 66% of the difference between its share of member states’ VAT contributions and its share of EU spending in return. The European Commission sets out the detailed calculations in a working document.

    Anyway Blair gave away 25% of it for no reason.

    82. EU cross-country coordination offers greater protection from terrorists, pedophiles, people traffickers and cyber-crime

    There are international cooperation on these matters.

    83. The European common arrest warrant

    It doesn’t seem to work very well 😊

    84. Europe-wide patent and copyright protection

    FTA or agreement – how do we manage with USA?

    85. EU consumer protection laws concerning transparency and product guarantees of quality and safety
    86. Improved food labelling
    87. A ban on growth hormones and other harmful food additives
    88. Cheaper air travel due to EU competition laws
    89. Common EU air passenger rights
    90. Deregulation of the European energy market has increased consumer choice and lowered prices

    Who is saying we won’t follow those directives? Furthermore, the EU works in the principle that once it enacts one directive in an area, individual countries cannot. So, because we have outsourced to the EU (forced to) certain areas, doesn’t mean once a sovereign country, we cannot do them ourselves.

    91. Mutual recognition of the common European driving license

    FTA or agreement – unless our driving standards have dropped due to Brexit lol

    92. The introduction of the European pet passport

    FTA or agreement. Unless our pets have become full of issues suddenly

    93. The abolition of mobile telephone roaming charges
    Why not in an FTA or side agreement?

    94. The EU acts as a guarantor of the Irish Good Friday Agreement

    No, it doesn’t

    GFA makes reference to the UK and Ireland as “partners in the European Union”, and it was argued in R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union that the Agreement meant that the consent of Northern Ireland’s voters was required to leave the European Union (Brexit). The UK Supreme Courtunanimously held that this was not the case, .

    95. A frictionless Irish border

    We now know that there is no problem with the Irish border, but it was an attempt of the EU to keep the UK tied to its CU.

    The UK, Eire and the EU said that no hard border in Ireland after no deal Brexit
    96. The EU acts as a guarantor of the special status of Gibraltar
    Poppycock.

    In 2000, a political declaration of unity was signed by the members of the Gibraltar Parliament; according to the Gibraltar government, “In essence the declaration stated that the people of Gibraltar will never compromise, give up or trade their sovereignty or their right to self-determination; that Gibraltar wants good, neighbourly, European relations with Spain; and that Gibraltar belongs to the people of Gibraltar and is neither Spain’s to claim or Britain’s to give away.

    97. The EU helped support and maintain democracy in Spain, Portugal and Greece from the 1970s and these countries have become major destinations for British tourists
    This is one of the funniest reasons. Many British people go on holiday to dictatorships, so this is hardly a reason for remaining in the EU. No democracy wouldn’t stop British people going on hols to those countries

    Furthermore the EU started in 1993 – so is the EU capable of time travel?
    98. EU membership has helped facilitate intercultural dialogue
    So only EU countries talk with each other? What about the intercultural dialogue of the rest of the world?

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  47. 500 million people, not consumers. They don’t all buy goods.
    The Trump comment is ridiculous and Germany and France most definitely aren’t our closest allies.

    I couldn’t make it past number 4 without laughing at the silliness of it.

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  48. Having lived in Germany for 12 years, since the Lisbon treaty came to fruition ,I think the member states have made a mistake. Germany who at the centre of the EU have benefitted immensely, however I have seen a decline in the living standards of working class Germans in this period. freedom of movement has pushed wages down on newer contracts for some German workers , IMHO freedom of movement has only benefitted the Rich businesses, also the bail outs of the poorer countrys (which was not allowed in the Maastrict treaty ) has again had an effect on the German Economy. German Big Business will always push for the EU and bank rolling various EU bureaucrats to make sure the gravy train keeps rolling. The UK has never been fully accepted by the EU, the British are a different culture however the EU welcomed the money from the British Tax payer. I think the EU has gone to far in its ideas but will never be able to turn back , the poorer countrys love it because they get more money from the EU than they put in , France and Germany love it because they get more money from it as exports are cheaper because of cheaper logistic costs as they are geographically at the centre of EU , That leaves the UK, The UK is the third largest when it comes to how much money it puts in , its exports cost more because of logistics costs etc so in effect when it comes to the EU the UK is running at a loss. Trade will always carry on between the European countrys as it has done for over 2000 years including the UK.

    I used to pay for SKY TV its a good service but I can manage without it , one day I might go back Im sure they will be happy to have my subscription back. I think the UK should give it a go and leave and see if it can manage without the EU, trade will carry on , science will carry on ,the arts will carry on. One day if the UK wants to go back im sure the Greed of the EU and the greed of mainland European big business will welcome the UK back. I just hope that the UK leaves other wise UK Democracy will be permanently affected, One citizen One Vote will mean nothing. The list above does not benefit the poor of the UK it benefits the middle classes and the richer parts of the UK. The list is propaganda ask any citizen who lives on the streets of any country in the EU how the list above helps them- it doesn’t please WAKE UP REMAINERS and smell the coffee or pack your bags and come and live in mainland Europe and see the truth its not so rosy.

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  49. iI live in Canada. Here we dont have to sell our farm to pay the doctor because we have socilise medecine.

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  51. wow every single one of those 98 are just complete and utter nonsense! the eu is a tin pot dictatorship that is self serving the uk, and almost all of the other countries are weaker in every which way. Trade has decimated jobs in the uk with the subsidising of imports over uk based production, farming has been subsidised for years not to farm, cheap imports have destroyed all uk manufacturing companies. fishing has been near enough destroyed. we have suffered mass immigration having a knock on social cohesion, jobs, suppression of wages, increased violent crime, increased disease, destruction of our green belt land through home building that wasn’t and still isn’t needed (plenty of derelict housing and obviously old commercial land from the destruction of our once great manufacturing base!). freedom of movement was the biggest scam going, only approved by those who cant remember that we moved very freely before the eec and the eu. I work and holiday outside the eu no problems. the eu laws are suppressive. the accountability of our own government has disappeared as they are all in cahoots with the eu dictators and can just say well we tried, not one single vote the uk has made during our membership has made a difference, 72 occasions the uk (of which we where never made aware of which I find worrying as it effects us all) has objected and haven’t won a single time! so the uk is stopped from doing what it wants. another scary point is this unelected dictatorship decides on the laws before they are even voted on and a lot of the time the vote is just a formality the law will always be passed if the unelected eu council want it to. in short the eu is a continuation of what hitter set out to do over 80 years ago, just this time the proof is the power of the pen is greater than the sword. with the eu using the left wings empathy and paper thin reasoning against them shrouding the ultimate goal of complete control in left wing agenda of caring and freedoms when in fact it has removed more freedoms away from hard earning British (as well as other People in their own countries!) I am still amazed that so many people haven’t the ability to use the most basic of critical thinking, also actually step back park their well meaning morals and virtues and look at something subjectively.

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  52. Diversity and complexity (this expands potential and possibility) is what is needed during times of rebirth. To hell with the EU, it’s making European’s boring. A restructuring is coming, when it begins you’d be better off standing on your own two feet and have your own vote than to be part of a compromising group. Good Job Great Britain, you know how to survive.

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  53. While economists generally conclude that membership has benefitted the UK economy overall, what happens to the economy does not affect everyone in the same way.

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  55. As a nation, when individually asked if we trust our politicians, we generally respond with “No”. However, like lambs when it comes to election times we listen to debates and points of view publicised by all ambitious political persuasions and we depend informed balanced argument from the not impartial media. The public were never prepared for BREXIT. We went to the ballot box trusting in our politicians as usual. How many of us could name an European MP. These people have for years failed to represent our views and now failed to put over to the electorate the bigger picture. If we have left the EC due to dissatisfaction with how it is run and affecting our daily lives. Then we have been poorly represented and deceived. The European Parliament could have been run tighter and better. Our home politics too is suffering. Successive weak and indecisive leadership has and is letting the dependent voter down. I wish the EC a better future with out us but I don’t feel that is their answer either.

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