The Bruges Group recently commissioned a poll asking whether people would prefer to be a member of EFTA, the European Free Trade Association, or remain members of the European Union. Of those expressing a preference, 71% said that Britain would be better off as a member of the trade group EFT. The full question asked was:
“The European Economic Area (EEA) is the single market that allows for free movement of goods, services, people and capital between all participating European countries. There are two organisations which allow countries to access this EEA single market - the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The UK could remain a member of the single market if it left the EU and joined the EFTA. Unlike the EU, the EFTA does not involve itself in countries’ agriculture, fisheries, home affairs or justice policies, and allows countries to negotiate free trade agreements with any outside countries. The UK would have to adopt 60% fewer regulations and pay around £3bn less in budget contributions if it was in the EFTA instead of the EU, but would have less power to influence the rules of the single market. With this in mind, which would you prefer the UK to be a member of?"
The European Free Trade Association is only one of a number of options for what Britain would look like after leaving the European Union. There are many other potential alternatives. Interestingly, the Institute for Economic Affairs has offered a 100,000-euro (£86,000) cash prize, called the ‘Brexit prize’, for the best plan for how the UK could leave the European Union. Judges will include historian David Starkey and former chancellor Nigel Lawson. So if you have a fantastic plan, why not enter the competition – and of course, you could always donate the prize back to UKIP to help put your ideas into practice…? For more information see the IEA website: http://www.iea.org.uk/brexit.
(Jonathan Arnott - Ukip National General
Secretary.)
