IN his recent column (The Yorkshire
Post, June 3) Bernard Ingham asks “What exactly is Cameron seeking on his
Euro-tour?” and in the same edition on the letters page, John Watson challenges
the myth that continued membership of the EU is good for business. Since then, a
radio pundit has just said withdrawal from the EU would inhibit growth.
EU bureaucracy has been inhibiting real wealth-creating growth for years
with its endless stream of directives. I know one engineering company started by
four individuals several years ago on a shoestring budget.
It went on to employ some 300 people directly and probably two or three
times that number indirectly. If directive 97/23/EC had been in force at the
time, that enterprise would have been killed stone dead at the first hurdle. A
second example was a small company that found itself no longer able to trade
within the EU, including the UK, from the day 2006/42/EC came into force because
it simply did not have the resources to absorb and implement the bureaucracy.
Both the above companies continued to prosper because they had extensive
markets outside the jurisdiction of EC directives. Meanwhile, our trade balance
with Europe continues deeply in the red.
David Cameron could make a start by getting a mountain of industrial
bureaucracy reduced. In doing so, he needs to be aware that our own civil
service have gold-plated the directives far beyond what other member states
consider necessary in their application. Nor does the onus for achieving a “Yes”
vote at the referendum rest entirely on the shoulders of David
Cameron.
The EU is currently nothing more than a corrupt monolithic expensive
bureaucracy and the UK population is unlikely to vote “Yes” until it sees
Brussels putting its own house in order. Mike Smith, Yorks
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