Britain’s membership of the EU: Do you want to leave or stay?

This is the most important question you, as a Briton, will face for a generation. This report offers you 27 great reasons to vote ‘Leave’ on June 23 – whether you’re a staunch socialist or an ardent capitalist, a liberal or a nationalist, there’s sure to be a reason which resonates with you...

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

1. NHS restored as Britain’s jewel in the crown The very future of our NHS, arguably Britain’s greatest institution, is being threatened by a raft of EU laws and regulations which we have no control over. Our inability to control the numbers of people arriving here from EU member states to access our free NHS and GP services is placing an intolerable pressure on doctors and nurses and is an issue absolutely central to this referendum debate. Top cancer specialist Professor Angus Dalgleish has warned the NHS is being “bled dry” by the EU’s free movement of people. He said: “Britain is attracting thousands of health tourists from across the EU who cannot get certain drugs or treatments in their home country so come to Britain and demand them as EU citizens. Cancer treatment can cost £200,000-a-year per patient and while we remain in the EU, Britain has to offer treatment for any EU citizen who comes here so as to not discriminate.” The evidence supports his claims. Data from the UK Statistics Authority show the rising numbers of foreign nationals has led to doctors taking on an extra 1.5 million people in the last three years alone. Indeed, 475,000 babies were born to mothers from other EU nations between 2005 and 2014, the same population increase as a city the size of Liverpool. The cost of this maternity care is £1.3bn. It is no coincidence that NHS performance in key areas of care has been declining for several years. For example, the number of patients waiting at least four hours on a trolley to be admitted hit a record 51,545 this January – an almost four-fold increase on the 13,162 who did so in the same month in 2011. The figures for January 2016 represent the worst ever performance in the first month of the year, as the NHS missed almost all its key waiting time targets. Those on the ‘Remain’ side are claiming: “The NHS would collapse without the EU’s free movement of people due to how many talented nurses and doctors are able to come and work here.” However, this is untrue and very misleading. Statistics produced by the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that just 3.6% of permanent, full-time staff within the NHS originate from EU member countries. 78.5% are British nationals and 4% come from the Commonwealth. After Britain, India produces the highest number of professionally qualified clinical staff, doctors and consultants followed by the Philippines and then Ireland. Stats also reveal the NHS is paying out millions more for EU healthcare than it is claiming back from EU member states. The UK pays more than £670m to EU countries for Brits’ healthcare abroad, while claiming back less than £50m from the EU, despite there being significantly more EU citizens in the UK than UK citizens in the EU. For example, the UK pays France £147m, but France only pays the UK £7m in return and in Poland, where net migration is massively towards the UK, the discrepancy is four-fold in Poland’s favour. Not only that but new measures passed in the Health and Social Care Act 2012 have increased competition within the NHS at the expense of collaboration – making it inevitable that UK and EU competition law will apply as if it were a utility like gas or telecoms. Opening up the NHS to competition

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

law includes changes such as removing the limit on the level of income NHS hospitals can earn from private health services and permitting new Clinical Commissioning Groups to outsource commissioning work to private companies. We should reject any attempts through EU law to privatise the NHS and use the £350m we send to Brussels each week to invest sufficiently in local health services. 2. “Special” EU deal is a farce Prime Minister David Cameron launched the ‘In’ campaign on the premise that he had secured Britain’s ‘special status’ in Europe in an apparent redrawing of the UK’s membership. Number 10 hailed it as a victory and repeatedly claimed the terms negotiated are “legally binding and irreversible”. But in an embarrassing development which leaves the deal in farce, the House of Commons library, which provides independent research and advice to MPs, said the European Court of Justice “could not enforce” the deal if it clashed with EU treaties. Researchers warned that uncertainty around the legality of the deal mean that parts of it could end up “effectively being reversed by the courts”. And the report also said key parts of the agreement, including curbs on welfare payments to EU migrants, still had to be agreed by the European Parliament “which is not directly bound by” the deal. The very foundation of the Remain campaign has been built on a lie, one which is repeated continuously in the hope that the British public believe it. The truth is the concessions won by Mr Cameron are not legally binding or enshrined in EU law at all. In fact, the most senior Tory MP in the European Parliament Syed Kamall, who helped broker the deal, is now backing the Leave campaign. What does that tell you?

3. The EU is in decline When the UK joined what is now the EU in 1973, the bloc accounted for 37% of world GDP. By 2025, according to US Government figures, the EU will account for just 22% of world GDP. Even after enlargement, the EU is lagging behind other major economic blocs including China and the Commonwealth. Whether it’s the eurozone crisis and

the currency split between northern and southern Europeans, the migrant and refugee influx dividing older western member states and newer central and eastern ones or the three hugely expensive financial rescues of Greece; the EU’s 28 member states are as divided now as they ever have been. It is no longer inconceivable, as it perhaps once was, that the EU will become increasingly bereft of power and relevance on the world stage before slipping into a glacial decline. 4. National security stronger outside of EU Apparently we’re safer in the EU? Not according to the British head of Europol who has warned that as many as 5,000 ISIS-trained jihadists are wandering free in Europe. Rob Wainwright described the EU as an “international passport free area for terrorists”. Does that sound safe to you? How about having proper border security so we can ensure those we are letting in are either skilled workers or people with a genuine humanitarian need?

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

Richard Walton, head of Counter Terrorism Command at New Scotland Yard between 2011 and 2015, said the UK had a counter-terrorism operation which was “envied” across the world and which regularly shares intelligence across international boundaries, something which wouldn’t change in the event of Brexit. He added: “Among the arguments currently raging across the European debate, I have been most surprised by the emphasis being put on security: we are being told we need to stay in the EU in order to keep safe from terrorism. From my own experience as head of the Counter Terrorism Command, I’d say that Britain’s security depends on many different factors – but membership of the EU is not necessarily one of them.” 5. EU red tape decimating fishing industry From French wineries to the German automotive industry, other member states rightly do all they can to protect important sections of their own economy, while British politicians willingly give away one of our own. The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is the EU’s method of applying pan-European laws on fishing as well as setting quotas for member states on the amounts of each type of fish we are permitted to catch. Designed to manage fish stock for the European Union as a whole, the CFP has instead continued the trend of ineffective fisheries management in European waters. Quite simply, it has been a disaster. By placing our precious waters under a shared resource, Britain’s fishing rights are now reduced to a mere 12 miles off our own coast. This has inevitably led to depleting fish stocks leaving many coastal towns in economic and social ruin through the loss of thousands of jobs. Another nation where the CFP played a similar, damaging, role is Greenland who decided to leave the EU (EEC at the time) in 1984. Their politicians recognised the huge implications this policy was having on their largest asset and saw no other option but to leave. Ignoring scaremongers at the time, the islanders now enjoy average income on par with other rich northern European states and have favourable trade deals with Europe without the red tape from Brussels. If a nation of just 57,000 can do it, why cannot Britain, a country of 65 million, do the same? 6. Trade Union rights are being eroded As the weeks roll by, more and more members of the British Trade Union movement are joining the case for Brexit. Recently some of the UK’s largest trade unions including Aslef, RMT and the Bakers Union have all passed votes for their members to leave Europe. A growing social media campaign group, called Trade Unionists Against the EU, says workers rights’ are being eroded by the EU. It says: “The EU is irreversibly committed to privatisation, welfare cuts, low wages and the erosion of trade union rights. This is why the dominant forces of British capitalism and

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

the majority of the political elite are in favour of staying in the EU.” Paul Embrey, regional secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, is in no doubt that trade unionists should “wake up” and realise the EU is no friend of workers. He said: “The anti-worker bias of the EU establishment is illustrated most starkly through its management of the single currency, which has been a disaster for European workers. Control over money supply has been passed from elected governments to unelected bankers. In Greece, the result has been mass unemployment, a collapse in living standards, huge social unrest, and renewed tensions with fellow member states.” And in possibly the biggest gaffe of the referendum campaign so far, Lord Rose, the Chairman of Britain in Europe, admitted to the Treasury Select Committee that wages would actually rise if we leave the EU. 7. The EU needs us more than we need them Britain’s goods-trade gap with the European Union has widened to record levels, with exports in the last three months falling to their lowest in over six years. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show a deficit of £8.1bn in January (2016) and £23bn over a three-month period – both figures are the highest since data began in 1998. Indeed, it’s important to know that for 32 consecutive years Britain has paid more into the EU than it has received back.

According to leading bank Barclays, the EU and not the UK would suffer the worst consequences of Brexit. Their analysis states that a leave vote could boost populist anti-EU movements in other countries on both the left and right, which in turn would open a “Pandora’s box” that could lead to the “collapse of the European project”. In this scenario, the UK would be seen as a safe haven from those risks, attracting investors, boosting the pound and reducing the risk that Scotland would

“leave the relative safety of the UK for an increasingly uncertain EU”. The chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, Portuguese-born Antonio Horta-Osorio, also praised the strength and outlook of the British economy and said our business model will “thrive in any conditions”, signalling his opinion that Brexit will not negatively impact the UK economy. And despite our reliance on the EU overwhelmingly declining, the cost of membership is actually increasing. Buried on page 140 of the 2016 Budget, a single line hidden in the midst of dozens of weighty tables shows that “expenditure transfers to EU institutions” will total £10.5bn in 2015/16 rising to £11.9bn by 2020/21. Overall, the Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that Britain will pay £96.5bn to Brussels over the next five years, equivalent to £371m per week – more than enough to plug the NHS funding gap and cover agricultural subsidies and regional grant payments currently received from the EU. Shockingly, these figures don’t even account for indirect payments – such as the environmental levies insisted upon by EU legislation which are set to more than double from £5.9bn to £13.4bn.

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

8. Open-door immigration isn’t working On February 26, the head of Germany’s migration office Frank-Jurgen Weise admitted that there are currently up to 400,000 people in Germany whose identities are unknown to authorities – and that 130,000 refugees (13% of the total who have arrived in Germany in the past 14 months) have vanished after initial registration. Given that Islamic State have openly boasted to smuggling around 4,000 terrorists among the huge tide of illegal migrants currently flooding Europe, do we really want to be part of the EU’s free movement of people? In the UK, over 300,000 people (net) arrived here last year; a figure that – given over 600,000 NI numbers were issued – is probably a wild underestimate. This accelerating issue of open-door immigration has driven down wages for the lower paid, driven up housing prices to impossible levels and placed an increasing burden on public services such as the NHS. With Turkey’s EU membership looking increasingly inevitable, that will mean another 75 million people have free access to the UK and its public services. It will mean Britain’s shared border effectively moving to Syria, Iran and Iraq. This is unsustainable, illogical and most importantly it is dangerous. Controlled immigration, such as Australia’s point-based system, would see people awarded points for skills, training, age and health to ensure the UK accepts those migrants we need, while excluding those we don’t. It’s good old plain common sense. Much of Britain’s mainstream media and political class have misunderstood the mood of the general public when it comes to immigration for far too long. It has become commonplace to brand people “racists” or mock them for being “bigots” for displaying genuine concerns about levels of immigration. Arguably the only bigots are those which have tried to close down this conversation for so long. No rational person believes immigration is a bad thing – much of it has been inherently good for society and will continue to be so – indeed, nobody is advocating Britain slamming its metaphorical door shut. But it is, however, now time that concerns about the sheer volume of people now coming into the UK are addressed – and not cunningly swept under the carpet. 9. Send a message to establishment politicians Make absolutely no mistake: this is not a fair fight. A referendum, by its very concept, is meant to provide the public with two balanced and fair arguments. Most people agree this includes funding and resources however civil servants have been banned from helping Brexit ministers. A memo circulated by Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood said that civil servants are allowed to provide briefs or write speeches for ministers who want to go out campaigning for the ‘Remain’ position, but warned: “It will not be appropriate or permissible for the civil service to support ministers who oppose the government’s official position by providing briefing or speech material on this matter.”

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

It means that Michael Gove and other ministers supporting the Leave campaign will be unable to access certain official papers. In the biggest scandal of the referendum campaign so far, a Government which cannot reach a compromise on the junior doctors strikes or find a permanent solution to the UK’s steel crisis has decided to spend almost £10m of taxpayers’ money on a pro-EU propaganda leaflet designed to tell you how to think. This is despite the Government very specifically promising in the Houses of Parliament on 16th June 2015 – during the passage of the legislation – that they would not be a lead campaigner in this referendum. That one glossy leaflet alone is costing more than the entire budget for the leave campaign and over 200,000 people have so far signed a petition opposing this shoddy attempt to swing the result. Send a clear, damning, message to establishment politicians like Cameron and George Osborne, with control over bankers, big businesses and the media, and who think they can control you. 10. UK ports industry under threat The UK’s competitive and thriving ports industry is the second largest in Europe handling 500m tonnes of freight each year and supplying 344,000 direct and indirect jobs across Britain. Since 2009, the direct value of this industry has increased in real terms by 6.4%, while 15 of the 20 largest UK ports are run by private businesses. This is in stark contrast to mainland Europe where 80% of ports are run by the state, receiving heavy subsidies through the taxpayer.

Why does all this matter? Well, the EU Parliament is currently debating the controversial Ports Services Regulation (PSR) put forward by the European Commission. Two previous drafts have been thrown out by the EU Parliament and all major UK political parties oppose the draft legislation. The PSR aims to tackle a lack of competitiveness from Europe’s state-run ports but is yet another shameful example of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ piece of legislation which threatens to damage our already competitive UK ports sector,

which continues to outperform the rest of the UK economy. The PSR, if passed, would adversely affect 43 UK ports and David Cameron’s government, though he wouldn’t like to remind you now, has already been clear that these regulations would be harmful to the industry on our shores. The UK Major Ports Group has also expressed concerns about aims to regulate market access to port services, port charges and financial transparency. The industry believes these regulations could have serious negative consequences for job creation and investment. 11. We are strong enough to flourish outside the EU Your children will one day thank you. Many of you reading this will be parents and one crucial question you may ask yourself is “what do I want for my children's future?” The UK is the world’s fifth largest

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

economy, the best performing in Western Europe, and there is an expectation that with Germany’s ageing population we will soon climb the global league tables even further. We are an amazing island nation filled with inventiveness and creativity – look at how we dazzled the world during the London 2012 Olympics. We also have superb natural advantages: the world’s business language is English, our contract law is widely recognised as gold standard, we have one of the least corrupt judicial systems in the world, we benefit hugely from living between the time zones of North America and Asia and, of course, we have longstanding links to the near 2.5 billion people that make up the Commonwealth. The European superstate, on the other hand, looms ever larger on the horizon and the question of ‘stay as we are’ or ‘Leave’ is actually one of ‘in even deeper’ or ‘Leave’. It costs billions to belong to a club that interferes in our affairs and has created needless divisions, one that will ultimately lead to our removal from the map. If a European superstate is achieved, the resentment and anger will flow through the centuries to come, strengthening resistance movements right across the continent. Don’t believe anyone who undersells the UK by arguing that we cannot successfully go it alone. 12. Acknowledge the global economy Far away from being ‘little Englanders’, those in the Leave campaign recognise that the world is a big, global marketplace, filled with new and exciting opportunities. We need to look to the emerging economies of China, Brazil, India, and the Commonwealth while remembering that the EU has shown itself to be fundamentally ill-equipped for a truly global economy. The EU is, as Michael Gove put it, “an analogue union in a digital world.” A new poll for American news channel CNBC shows that a British breakaway from the EU this summer will do little damage to the country’s business ties with the rest of the world. Chief financial officers (CFOs) from some of the world’s largest firms were generally upbeat on the outcome of Brexit. More than 70% of global CFOs – across a wide range of industries – said there would be “no change” on their business intentions with the UK. Only 2.1% said they would be “significantly less likely” to do business with the UK while the same percentage said they would be “slightly more likely”. In 2015, UK goods exports increased to USA, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Singapore, New Zealand, Indonesia, Egypt, UAE and Israel. Notice the common denominator? They are all countries outside of the EU. The future for Britain lies in building ever better trade relations with the economically expanding parts of the world. The UK would be liberated.

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

13. True Scottish and Welsh nationalists must vote ‘Leave’ The official SNP position on the EU is, rather bizarrely, completely incoherent when viewed from a ‘Yes’ movement perspective. ‘Yes’ voters must ask themselves: if the SNP succeeds, through the Scottish vote, of keeping the UK in the EU, what will be different for the independence movement? The EU will return to the status quo – the same EU which showed no appetite for an independent Scotland in the first referendum in 2014. Former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars argues comprehensively in a new study: “If we vote to remain in the UK and the EU, then seeking sovereignty is but a pretence, because we cannot be sovereign while remaining locked within a superstate, because the price the EU demands is permanent surrender of sovereignty. That is the inescapable reality that every one of us in the Yes movement has to face. By voting to ‘Leave’ the EU on June 23, we shall re-assert the message of 2014: that we in Scotland are on an irreversible march to independence as a sovereign nation, under the control of no other than the people.”

What Jim is rightly questioning is why would the SNP want to gain independence and then hand it over to a larger, more remote body? Why would it want to have even less control over its economy? That is not to say, of course, that a vote to ‘Leave’ the EU will automatically trigger a second Scottish independence referendum. After all, the first one was hailed as a “once in a lifetime vote” and Scotland duly delivered its verdict. However, as many in the SNP camp now acknowledge,

Scottish independence will be significantly further away should the UK remain locked within Brussels’ stranglehold. Political parties such as the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party exist to promote localism and the devolution of power, yet bizarrely many of their senior party leaders refuse to challenge an EU which is about the centralising of power. 14. Staying in is the real “leap into the unknown” Brexit is often described as a “leap into the unknown” but the opposite is actually true. If we elect to remain, we’ll continue being ruled by a political union which has these fundamental aims: a single European army, a single European foreign policy, and a single European justice system. This once-in-a-lifetime vote will not come around again and the bureaucrats from Brussels will not stop in their aim of creating a single centralised superstate, as more and more of our sovereignty is eroded. The idea put across by its promoters, that the EU is somehow synonymous with “Europe”, is pure fantasy and yet the use of this language has become commonplace. We are told that to be anti-EU is to be “anti-European”, but, in reality, to oppose the EU makes you pro-European. If Europe is its people and cultures then it is surely better that France, Greece, Poland and every other member state becomes

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

a proper democracy again.

In terms of trade, Norway gets a better deal than Britain currently does and Switzerland a better deal than Norway. A post-EU Britain, with 65 million people compared to Norway’s five million and Switzerland’s eight can expect something better yet. Pro-EU supporters claim this will mean the UK will still have to conform to vast swathes of EU rules even if we are outside, just as the others do? Yet that issue has proven to be more of a problem in theory than in practice. Between 2000 and 2013, the EU generated 52,183 legal instruments, of which Norway and Iceland adopted fewer than 10% (and the Swiss none at all). In that same period, Britain, by contrast, had to apply 100% of EU regulations to its economy. So even if we had to settle for a Norway or Iceland-style agreement – which we won’t – we would be far better off out.

Let’s take back the £350m we currently give the EU each week and invest it in things like the NHS, education, scientific research, policing and local councils. This will improve the quality of life for families across Britain and provide more opportunities and a brighter future for our children. Surely, by its very logic, taking back control of our own affairs is less of a risk than staying in an unstable eurozone which is marching towards federalism with little recognition of the diverse member states it currently encapsulates?

15. Brexit is truly cross-party

The campaign to leave the European Union is proudly demonstrating that, on matters of huge national significance, political differences can largely be put to one side. Whether it’s the Scottish nationalists, trade unionists or Labour activists on the left or the UKIP and Conservative backers on the right, Brexit is truly cross-party.

Former foreign secretary David Owen, once fiercely pro-European, recently came out in support of leaving the “dysfunctional bloc” and said it would “re-energise” the country. Left-leaning Lord Owen added: “There are many positive aspects to leaving the EU. To remain in the EU is in my judgement a more dangerous option for British security in its deepest sense – economic, political, military and social – than is being admitted or even discussed in the wake of Cameron’s failed negotiations.” Former LiberalDemocrat MP Paul Keetch waded into the debate saying: “I am a liberal, a democrat and an internationalist... the EU is none of these things.” And Baroness Jenny Jones, a prominent member of the Green Party, joined in the condemnation of the EU when she said: “The EU is becoming a dictatorial imposer of austerity, uncaring about its impacts on the wellbeing of people and planet, and determined to derail any elected Government that dares dissent from its neoliberal ideology.”

While on the right, Boris Johnson states: “I am a European. I lived many years in Brussels. I rather love the old place. And so I resent the way we continually confuse Europe – the home of the greatest and richest culture in the world, to which Britain is and will be an eternal contributor – with the political project of the European Union. It is, therefore, vital to stress that there is nothing necessarily

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

anti-European or xenophobic about voting ‘Leave’ on June 23.” Boris is, of course, correct. You can absolutely love Europe, whilst wholeheartedly disagreeing with the EU. 16. Secret TTIP deal threatens us all The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a series of controversial trade negotiations which have been conducted mostly in secret between the EU and US. TTIP is about reducing the barriers to trade for big business – things like food safety law, environmental legislation, banking regulations and the sovereign powers of individual nations. Although details of the talks have only been released through leaked documents and Freedom of Information requests and therefore remain sketchy, it’s widely believed one of the main aims of TTIP is to open up Europe's public health which could lead to further privatisation of the NHS. Other proposals include loosening US banking regulations to benefit the City of London but which would effectively hand more power back into the hands of bankers and the further erosion of UK democracy by introducing the Investor-State Dispute Settlements (ISDS).

The ISDS means unelected transnational corporations can dictate the policies of democratically elected governments by allowing them to sue governments if their policies cause a loss of profits. Yes, you read that right: businesses could take governments to court if its profits are infringed upon. TTIP has been described as a “corporate power grab” which Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said could “sign away a lot of public services across the whole continent.” It is

mind-blowing stuff, yet negotiations continue in secret and our politicians largely stay silent on the issue. 17. Tear off EU straightjacket for small and medium-sized businesses The truth is that business is split on Europe. Big multinationals, which use the EU to recruit employees on lower wages, are not surprisingly more positive about the EU. Smaller businesses and entrepreneurs are more hostile. Other countries have free trade agreements without having a supreme court in which unelected judges decide everything from how we test cancer drugs to how our intelligence services pursue terrorists. Entrepreneurs are increasingly suffocated by EU rules and have little influence in shaping them. They are less able to afford expensive lobbyists or large compliance departments to cope with the endless stream of regulations from Brussels. More than 200 small business owners have signed an open letter urging Britain to leave the EU. It reads: “As entrepreneurs, we deal with the EU’s constant diet of unnecessary regulations which add to our cost base, reduce our bottom line, and raise prices for our customers for no return. If EU institutions are tone-deaf to the genuine desire for change to remain competitive, the EU is destined to fail.” In fact, the Government’s own figures show that only around 1 in 20 British companies export to the EU.

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

However, every single business in Britain is forced to obey every single one of the costly EU rules that often undermine businesses’ ability to employ more people. This is yet another unfair disparity from Brussels which we, the general public, now have the opportunity to change. 18. The ‘Corbyn conundrum’ When Jeremy Corbyn became Leader of the Opposition in September 2015 it was on the back of a campaign which promised that he was bringing a “new kind of politics” to the table. This included bringing seriousness back into Westminster debate and demonstrating that politicians weren’t all into gesture politics and could stand up for their core beliefs, principles and values, even under intense scrutiny. Whether you agree with his position or not, trident is just one example of Corbyn sticking admirably to this mantra. Which is why, when he has positioned himself as a well-known Eurosceptic for 40 years, his decision to back staying in the EU is all the more baffling. Or is this new kind of politics he promised us subject to change, you may wonder? Corbyn voted against membership in 1975 and opposed the subsequent Maastricht and Lisbon treaties. In December 2011, he tweeted: “26 EU Govts hand economic power to unelected Commission. EU wants to protect privilege of City. Who is defending workers jobs and services?” Unfortunately it seems Corbyn has given in to pressure from the Blairites in the Parliamentary Labour Party and, in doing so, has put short-term party cohesion ahead of his long-held EU objections and the long-term prosperity of the UK. Quite cynically, some of his most powerful anti-EU speeches have recently begun disappearing from his website. A coincidence it is not. One of Corbyn’s closest allies, political activist Owen Jones, wrote in July 2015 that the left needed to “reclaim the Eurosceptic cause”. He added: “The case for Lexit grows ever stronger, and – at the very least – more of us need to start dipping our toes in the water.” And yet, you’ve guessed it, fast-forward nine months and Jones has also miraculously changed his tune. Many people will very fairly question: can we, or should we, put our trust in people so seemingly moveable on such a fundamental question? On the other side of the coin, supporters of Corbyn will need to read between the lines when they cast their vote and realise that a vote against their party leaders ‘official’ position is actually a vote for his policies long-term. The ‘social Europe’ Corbyn outlined in his pro-EU speech is, to put it politely, a pipedream – and he knows it. If Cameron, whose politics are far more centre-ground than Corbyn, failed to achieve any meaningful change then the chances of Corbyn helping to shape a vastly reformed EU is close to nil. Put simply: the EU Corbyn describes is not the option on the ballot paper in June. And it’s an EU which is at great odds with many of the values Corbyn supposedly stands for.

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

19. Farmers stifled by EU regulations Dysfunctional European regulations, over which we have very little power to change, are stifling our farming industry. Over 80% of legislation affecting DEFRA comes from the EU and compliance with this endless list of rules – such as the maximum width of a hedge or whether a cabbage and a cauliflower are different crops or should be deemed the same crop – is regulated through a system of penalties called “disallowance”. Auditors at the EU Commission can levy fines against the Government and indeed the UK is hit by penalties of around £100m-a-year for a multitude of trivial, perceived mistakes which, in reality, matter very little. This draconian system has naturally made the industry more risk averse, curtailing innovation in the process. A lot has been made of the subsidies farmers receive from the EU, but the truth is that by not sending £350m-a-week to the EU we can properly support farming, the countryside and the environment through our own national policies. MP George Eustice, farming minister for the past two-and-a-half years, said: “It would be far better if we take back control, make our own laws, and craft a national agricultural policy that’s right for our country.” If the EU continues to accept new member states like Turkey, Albania and Macedonia with comparatively low GDPs and very high areas of agricultural land, UK farmers will see a significant reduction in the amount of funding received from the Common Agricultural Policy anyway.

Outside the EU the UK will be able to set our own environmental standards, and reward farmers and landowners for looking after our precious landscape and allowing others to enjoy it. We’ll also be free to modify the water and planning laws – such as the Water Directives – which have got in the way of good water management and worsened flood problems across much of our countryside. 20. Because everybody loves an underdog No country has ever left the EU and, as already highlighted, the money, power and influence

is behind the ‘In’ campaign. Everyone loves an underdog so wouldn’t it be lovely to show the world that the British can make bold and decisive decisions for the love of our country? Regrettably all you hear from the ‘In’ camp is: “it would be a leap into the unknown”. Yet Yngve Slyngstad, CEO of Norway’s £590bn state-owned investment fund, said it will likely increase its investments to the EU whether we leave the EU or not. “We’ll continue to be a significant investor in the UK at about the same level as we are today and probably even increasing our investments there no matter what happens,” he added. Eurostat, the EU’s main statistical agency, shows that the UK is less integrated into the wider European economy than any other country. Of all 28 member states, Britain’s share of exports going to other countries in the Union is the lowest – 44% compared to the average of 62%. In fact our exports to the EU have declined by a significant 10 percentage points since 2006 and is primarily down to the EU economy stagnating. The Leave campaign is passionate about taking back control of our sovereignty and economy and we should be proud to do so.

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

21. The Brexit lies won’t win the day The spread of misinformation and fear has to end. People in the ‘In’ camp often make out that it’s the rebellious Conservative Party driving the move to leave the EU. “Look at the people who are voting to leave and ask yourself: do I align myself with people of those values?” was a recent conversation I overheard – the inference, of course, was that it’s only ‘nasty Tories’ who want out of the EU. However, according to the most recent figures, 49% of all Conservative MPs – including the Prime Minister – are campaigning for Britain to stay in the EU, with 42% on the leave side and the remainder undecided. The question facing Britain is hugely significant and usual party politics should not come into it, hence why the Leave campaign is cross-party and those on the other side of the divide are attempting to unite in similar fashion. We’ve heard ludicrous claims about Brexit from those behind #ProjectFear such as the joint letter from 198 business leaders to The Times newspaper which stated: “We can assure you that if the British people are foolish enough to leave the EU, there will soon be no British industry left and you will be unemployed, starving and begging our friends in Brussels to let you back in” Have you ever heard a more ridiculous threat from supposedly serious businesspeople? The ‘In’ campaign is divisive and counter-productive with even SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon warning Cameron about fighting a “miserable, negative, fear-based” referendum campaign. Show these people that hope and positivity, rather than fear, will win the day. 22. EU rules discriminate against immigrants The EU’s free movement of people policy is often hailed as a positive by Europhiles but it actually unfairly stops talented immigrants coming to the UK from outside Europe. Under free movement, an unlimited number of Poles and Hungarians are free to move to the UK, which has led the Government to tighten requirements on people from non-EU countries. Conservative MEP Syed Kamall, chairman of the third largest group in the EU Parliament and a second-generation immigrant himself, said the current system created “inequality”. “I’ve always wanted a fair immigration policy, where people are treated equally whether they are from an EU country or elsewhere,” he said. “People should be treated equally whether they are from Austria or Australia, from Croatia or the Caribbean, from India or Italy. Sadly, that’s not possible within the EU.” 23. Democracy will be strengthened Leaving the EU will make our government more, not less, accountable to the people of this country, strengthening democracy in the process. Don’t like the current government? You have the power to vote them out. Between 2009 and 2015, the UK found itself in the losing minority on EU Parliament decisions more than any other member state. The UK’s views were dismissed more than 12% of the time, compared to the second most ignored countries Germany and Austria on little over 5%.

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

Have you ever heard of Donald Tusk, Jean-Claude Juncker or Frans Timmermans? What about Martin Schulz? You wouldn’t be alone in wondering who on earth these people were. However these are the unelected but very powerful leaders at the core of the EU driving change in 28 different countries. They are the people who introduced a militarised police force called EUROGENDFOR, are pushing for its own army, and introduced a flawed single currency which has caused untold misery for tens of millions of people across Europe. Yet there is never any apology, just an arrogant demand for greater powers and tighter control. Britain is the birthplace of modern parliamentary democracy and it is time to free it from the murky decision-making of the EU where national veto rights have steadily been eroded and EU law currently supersedes our own.

24. It is NATO – not the EU – which keeps us safe In another desperate case of scaremongering, five former military commandos signed a Downing Street-coordinated letter claiming that Britain was safer inside the EU because of the rise of Islamic State and so-called “Russian aggression”. It now transpires that at least a couple of these ex-leaders were actively pressurised into signing the letter and, of course, what it neglected to

mention is that, as a NATO member, we’ll still be protected by other member states regardless of our EU membership. Air Chief Marshal Michael Graydon, former Chief of the Air Staff, and who signed the original letter, went on to say: “Our intelligence relationships are with individual member countries, not the European Union, so it is irrelevant whether we are in or not. In fact there are countries in the EU which we are wary about passing information to, because we are not certain about what their priorities are.” Breaking free of the EU stranglehold will actually bring two potentially important security gains: greater control over immigration from the EU as well as the ability to dump the European Convention on Human Rights which has cost taxpayers millions of pounds attempting to extradite hate preachers such as Abu Hamza. Sir Richard Dearlove, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service from 1999 to 2004, said: “Britain is Europe’s leader in intelligence and security matters and gives much more than it gets in return. Would Brexit damage our defence and intelligence service with the United States, which outweighs anything European by many factors of 10? I conclude confidently that no, it would not.” Britain will remain an integral ally to European intelligence services and a respected military force on the world stage outside of this political union. Being part of NATO, the UN Security Council and having the opportunity to retake our seat at the World Trade Organisation will actually increase our influence outside of the EU.

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

25. ‘Stay’ track record isn’t great Those in the ‘In’ camp are the same people who campaigned for Britain to adopt the Euro, the same people who opposed a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and the same people who would surrender more power to Brussels because they have little belief in their own island nation. These people, such as Tony Blair, Nick Clegg and Cameron, have been wrong in the past and their judgement is flawed again. They claim to “love Britain” but the reality is they’re talking down our economic prospects and have no confidence in the ingenuity and entrepreneurialism that has always been at the bedrock of our society. Education secretary Nicky Morgan even outrageously tried to claim that being part of this political union helps young people into work which would be put at risk by Brexit. What she fails to acknowledge is that while youth unemployment in the UK stands at 13%, in the vast majority of other member states this figure is far higher despite being in the EU. Youth unemployment stands at 48% in Greece, 45% in Spain, 39% in Italy, 29% in Portugal and 25% in France. Others have tried to argue that we would lose access to the popular Erasmus programme which gives young people the chance to study in foreign countries. However, what you are not told is that Erasmus is actually already open to non-EU countries and indeed five of the 33 countries which currently participate in the programme are from outside of the EU. It is insulting to suggest that opportunities for young people will in some way be curtailed by departing from the EU. Do you want to put your trust in these people? 26. Economic fears are unfounded Here’s the truth: nobody knows precisely what the economic impact would be because it depends on so many different factors and variables which cannot be foreseen before they happen. That said, award-winning think-tank Open Europe (a group which wants us to stay in a reformed EU), recently went some way to shattering the illusion that leaving the EU will wreck our economy in a comprehensive study. They found that the “worst-case” Brexit scenario is that the UK economy loses 2.2 per cent of its total GDP by 2030. However, conversely, it stated that GDP could rise by 1.6 per cent over the same period if the UK negotiates a free trade deal with Europe and pursued “very ambitious deregulation”. The report, which drew on detailed economic modelling to assess different Brexit scenarios, said a “far more realistic range” is between a 0.8% loss or a 0.6% gain in GDP by 2030. It concluded that the economic impact of Brexit is “not as clear cut in either direction as most previous analyses have suggested. Instead it will depend on a number of tough decisions in the UK and Europe. This includes whether UK politicians and voters are willing to transition Britain into the deregulated, free trading economy it would need to become outside of the EU.”

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

Indeed the worst-case Brexit scenario is based on a situation where Britain is unable to draw up its own trade agreement with Europe which, considering how much the EU relies on UK exports, is an entirely illogical thought process. Another study, published by the Institute of Economic Affairs – and cited by the Office for Budget Responsibility – argues that leaving the EU will actually increase GDP by 13%. Avon has just announced it is setting up its global headquarters in the UK while HSBC, Honda, Hitachi, Toyota, Nissan and Vauxhall are just a small number of multinational businesses which have already committed to having UK office bases regardless of our membership of the EU. 27. Hammer home the injustice It has taken 41 long years, since the ECC referendum of 1975, for the people of this country to have another say on an institution which affects every single aspect of our lives. Over four decades the European Common Market has morphed into something very different and political ideals of federalism have advanced forward without the people of this country having their say, despite referendum promises along the way.

We now, finally, have the chance to hold this undemocratic institution to account. British laws should be made in British Parliament in the interests of the British people. The words of former Labour MP Tony Benn, one of the most important figures on the socialist left in Britain, have never

held more relevance. He said: “I can think of no body of men outside the Kremlin who have so much power without a shred of accountability for what they do,” and “When I saw how the European Union was developing, it was very obvious what they had in mind was not democratic. In Britain, you vote for a government so the government has to listen to you, and if you don’t like it, you can change it.” People would be wise to remember these words when they enter the polling booth on June 23... Conclusion When I set out on my research mission several months ago, I mistakenly assumed this referendum was confined to one issue – immigration – and to a single set of political values and ideals. I couldn’t have been more wrong. For this is a debate far wider than any solitary concern. The reality is there are numerous, compelling reasons to vote ‘Leave’ no matter where your politics lie. Those on the right will naturally worry about open-door, uncontrolled immigration from EU countries and the effects this is having on house prices, wages, public services and national security. With the likes of Turkey and Ukraine moving closer to EU integration, these fears are only going to become more prominent. People occupying the centre-ground should reject the endless economic scare stories and listen to those

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

offering more constructive rationale over the effect of Brexit. The EU is a declining trade bloc, and globalisation – thanks partly to evolving technology and the internet – has fundamentally changed the way we trade. Britain should be outward looking in her approach to trade and the bureaucratic, restrictive EU doesn’t aid us in this goal. Lastly, those on the left should be emphatically opposed to what the EU stands for: centralising power in the hands of a few to the benefit of career politicians and large corporations. It is not progressive and its careless management and relentless drive towards the single currency has caused mass unemployment across vast swathes of Europe, while its backdoor TTIP deal with US companies will ensure NHS privatisation is irreversible. The EU’s abysmal track-record on listening to European citizens in referendums provides unequivocal evidence that it cares little about democracy and far more about centralising power for multinational companies and growing its influence on international affairs no matter the cost. The EU doesn’t care for you or your family and it’s time the British people put a stop to this nonsense by taking control of our own affairs just as we did pre-1975. All of the evidence, all of the figures and all of the trends suggest very strongly that the EU is fundamentally flawed and is shrinking at a rate of knots. Why would you vote for more of the same? We, the world’s fifth largest economy, should be excited to enter a new phase in our rich history as friendly European neighbours rather than bickering tenants inside the EU gravy train. References With special thanks to... • Daily Telegraph • Reuters • The Guardian • John King • Daily Express • LBC • Jim Sillars • Daily Mail • Labour Leave • London Evening Standard • City A.M • The Huffington Post • Euro Guido • Financial Times • CNBC • Breitbart News • Open Europe • New Statesman • The Independent.

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

Do you agree with the findings of this report? Voting ‘Leave’ on June 23? Why not share this report on social media or with your friends and family? Thanks for reading...

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon

27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon