THE TOTAL REAL COST OF EU MEMBERSHIP

I am proud to publish the following financial analysis of UK membership of the EU, compiled by my good friend and long-time supporter Jerry Wraith. If anything, Jerry has been highly conservative in his estimates, using only official or verifiable sources. If his figures are wrong, they err on the downside.

The total of club subscriptions and compliance costs more than account for the UK’s entire public spending deficit. You don’t need to be an Einstein to figure out the obvious conclusion. My congratulations to Jerry Wraith for this masterpiece of analysis.

Ashley Mote

1 WARNINGS

1.1 The whole concept of the EEC/EU has been built up and exists on lies, deceit and false claims. Some of the deliberate and calculated lies are referred to below and are highlighted in italics.
1.2 The current equivalent value calculated for the EU budget payments is based on published values for the net budget payments since joining the EEC in 1973 until 2007 . The annual budget payments have been factored by the yearly interest rates on a cumulative basis.
1.3 The total real cost of EU membership is impossible to calculate as the costs are not clearly defined (for obvious reasons). Hence, the cost of being in the EU cannot be defined with any accuracy. More accurate figures need to be calculated on a proper actuarial basis.

2 DIRECT COST OF EU MEMBERSHIP

2.1 Since joining the EEC/EU in 1973 the UK has contributed over £66 Billion1 net in cash budget contributions up to 2007. However, this figure does not give a true picture of the loss in UK investment over the period which the figures cover. This figure of £66 Billion is worth over £165 Billion at year 2007 values allowing for interest. Hence, the equivalent accumulated cost up to 2007 of our direct contributions to the EU’s budget is

£165 BILLION

2.2 However, this figure does NOT include the costs of administering and complying with EU over-regulation as the EU imposes 80% of the new laws on the UK. (Ted Heath, Conservative Prime Minister “There will be no loss of UK sovereignty when we join the EC.”.) The cost of EU over-regulation has been conservatively estimated by the British Chamber of Commerce1 at £55.66 Billion over the years from 2001 to 2007. The budget contributions over the same period amount to much less than half at £23.4 Billion.

Hence it can be conservatively assumed that the cost of complying with EU over regulation is twice the cost of our budget contributions for this period. (NB. For 2011 alone the cost of EU over-regulation is estimated by the Taxpayers Alliance to be £92 Billion.) Hence the equivalent cost at 2007 values of complying with EU over-regulation would be well over double the figure of £165 billion if it were calculated back to the date of joining. Unfortunately, the figures are not readily available so it will be assumed to be £330 or twice the figure for the net budget contributions. Hence, for the UK the equivalent total accumulated direct

COST OF BEING PART OF THE EU IS £500 BILLION

2.3 NOR does the above figure include numerous other costs of being in the EU such as the CAP which this year alone cost us £5.3 Billion and costs the average family of four an extra £20 per week on their shopping bill or the cost of the CFP which is about £3 Billion/year. Hence the figure of £500 Billion is considered to be well below the total accumulated amount. For a fuller discussion of the annual costs involved see Gerard Battens booklet!

NB The actual annual cost of being in the EU in 2008 works out at about £2000/annum/UK citizen. (This independently calculated figure by the Taxpayers Alliance is over 10 times the figure claimed by the EU! ) This equates to a cost for the UK in 2008 alone of being in the EU of £120 Billion or a cost of nearly £14 Million/hour every hour.

3 TRADE

3.1 The UK’s trade with the EU is frequently quoted by politicians as a good reason for being in the EU. However, our trade with the EU has resulted in a total cash trade deficit of about £360 Billion1 since we joined the EU until 2007. A complete turn-around from an alleged small trade surplus with “Europe” before we joined the EU. If the current accumulated equivalent cost of our EU trade deficit is related to values in 2007 allowing for interest the cost of the
UK TRADE WITH THE EU HAS COST OVER £865 BILLION DEFICIT
3.2 But the UK’s exports to the EU amount to only about 10% of our GDP. (NB The Rotterdam effect artificially increases the trade figures to the EU as trade with the rest of the world which passes through Rotterdam was (is?) included in the total for trade with the EU).

3.3 Trade with the Rest of the World (RoW) is also worth about 10% of our GDP. Over the same period trade with the RoW amounted to a trading cash surplus of £9 Billion. Admittedly our trading position with the RoW has not been good over the last few years, but that can be blamed mainly on the EU. For example;

a) The UK has had to give its trading competitors in the EU cash equivalent to £165 Billion since we joined until 2007.
b) This £165 Billion has meant that other EU countries saved having to find this amount which lowered their taxes and made them more competitive.
c) Similarly, the British economy was taxed the equivalent of an EXTRA £165 Billion to pay the EU, and UK industry also had to pay the costs of EU over-regulation and other EU costs of well over £330 Billion.
d) Hence since joining the EU up until 2007 the British economy and British industry has been saddled with additional equivalent costs amounting to well over £500 Billion.
e) The Tax payers Alliance has estimated that for this year alone (2011) the cost to the UK economy of being in the EU will be £130.6 Billion. If we stay in another 7 years this means that the cost for the last 7 years alone will be over £1000 Billion. By then the UK would have been in the EU for 45 years. Hence we can assume that the cost of being in the EU even up to the year 2007 would easily run up to thousands of £Billions, allowing for interest.

3.4 If the trade figures with the RoW are factored to account for interest our trade with the RoW would be a profit worth £310 Billion.
3.5 The effect of being in the EU from 1973 to 2007 on the UK’s global trading position can therefore be summarised as follows;
COST OF BEING PART OF THE EU: Thousands of £BILLIONs
UK TRADE WITH THE EU: £865 BILLION DEFICIT
COST OF BEING PART OF THE RoW: NOTHING
UK TRADE WITH THE RoW: £310 BILLION SURPLUS
The above statements might appear to give an impartial observer the impression that membership of the EU is not a bargain for Britain. Why pay the equivalent of £1000’s of Billion’s to be tied in with a trading group which costs us a trade deficit of £865 Billion after allowing for interest? However, to politicians in the Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem parties this truth appears either be totally beyond their comprehension, ignored, unknown or just too unpalatable to be mentioned in public. No doubt to David Cameron it makes good business sense. After all, he gave the Irish £6 Billion of our hard earned taxes this year because “they are good customers”. The ultimate stupidity of giving our customers our money to buy our goods is apparently makes good business sense for the Conservative Prime Minister. Added to which there was and is NO guarantee that the money will be used to buy our goods. The effects on UK trade in and out of the EU are discussed further below.

4 WAR WITH EUROPE

4.1 The fact that there has not been war between the European countries in the EU since the EEC/EU was formed is also quoted by politicians in the Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem parties as a good reason for being in the EU.

4.2 This is a fallacious argument. The main threat in Europe for many years since WWII was the ambition of the nuclear armed USSR. The only effective counter to this threat was NATO.

4.3 The fact that the European countries had to combine in the EU to stop kicking each other’s heads in is all well and good. However, no politician in the Conservative, Labour or Lib Dem parties can apparently explain WHY BRITAIN HAS TO BE A PART OF IT and has to pay equivalent accumulated costs of £Billion’s for the privilege.

4.4 It is abundantly clear that if Britain left the EU war would not immediately break out between Britain and other EU countries or amongst themselves.

5 EU LEGISLATION

5.1 It is sometimes claimed that EU legislation “is good for us” which is why it is good for Britain to be in the EU.
5.1 This must be the most preposterous suggestion ever as we once had (before we joined the EU that is) our own parliament which should have been perfectly able to pass laws which were “good” for Britain.

5.3 In addition, before joining the EU the UK voters could have voted for a party to amend or repeal laws which were not working. This facility has completely disappeared for all the thousands of laws imposed upon us by the EU, none of which has any UK citizen voted for.

6 BENEFIT OF BEING IN THE EU

6.1 From the above it is quite clear that the three main so-called “benefits” of being in the EU, i.e. EU legislation, trade and peace in Europe, are completely spurious as reasons for Britain being in the EU.

6.2 Hence there is NOT ONE BENEFIT FOR THE UK FROM BEING IN THE EU!

7 BENEFITS OF WITHDRAWL FROM THE EU

7.1 The benefits for Britain from leaving the EU are almost too many to recount but a short list is provided.

7.2 Trade.

Quote by Axel Weber, Bundesbank Chief “Europe will become more and more insignificant in the global economy”

a) Out of the EU Britain would be better placed to negotiate better terms for trade deals with EU countries. The EU needs us £865 Billion more than we need them.
b) Out of the EU Britain would NOT have to give its trading competitors the equivalent of £165 Billion or be saddled with costs of over-regulation of £26+ Billions/annum
c) Out of the EU Britain would be better placed to do trade deals with emerging economies like China and India.
d) Out of the EU Britain would be better placed to do trade deals with the USA and the Commonwealth countries and they ALL speak English.
e) The Commonwealth consists of 54 independent states with a total population of 2 billion people.
f) The Rest of the World consists of 168 countries with a total population of 6.5 billion.
g) The EU consists of 27 countries with 500 million people.
h) The EU is reducing in population and the elderly are becoming more numerous. The EU has estimated that by 2050 there will be up to 100 million pensioners in the EU. By then only two people will be working for each pensioner whereas at present there are four.

Clearly there are many more opportunities for trade outside the EU and being outside the EU will not prevent the UK from trading with the EU. (David Cameron, Prime Minister “Being in the EU is good for Britain”. Why?)

7.3 Immigration

a) Out of the EU Britain would not have to legally provide residency and all that implies for 500 million EU “citizens” who can come and live here at any moment they choose. This makes a total mockery of town planning and the provision of schools, hospitals, etc., etc.
b) Out of the EU Britain would regain control of its borders and would be totally responsible for deciding who comes to live here.
c) Out of the EU Britain would be free to deport foreign murderers, rapists, paedophiles, drug smugglers, sex traffickers etc.,. etc., no matter where they came from, including the EU.
d) Out of the EU Britain’s tax payers would not have to subsidise millions of economic migrants from the EU.
e) Out of the EU our borders would be much easier to control. In the EU our borders are many thousands of miles long and uncontrollable for much of it.

Clearly there are many advantages in being free to control our borders. (David Cameron Prime Minister “Being in the EU is good for Britain”. Why?)

7.4 EU Legislation

a) The EU currently imposes 80% of our new laws on the UK. (William Hague, Conservative Party election slogan “In Europe, but not run by Europe”.)
b) None of the EU laws are generated by our elected MP’s or MEP’s.
c) None of the EU laws can be amended or revoked by our elected MP’s or MEP’s.

We have therefore effectively LOST OUR VOTE! David Cameron apparently thinks this is a good thing! (David Cameron Prime Minister “Being in the EU is good for Britain”. Why?)

7.5 Global “Warming”

a) The EU is making Britain reduce its carbon emissions by large and unachievable amounts.
b) As part of this process the EU has told Britain to close 4 coal powered stations by 2015. There is no alternative generating capacity available in the UK.
c) This will make the UK entirely dependent on electricity provided by France if UK industry is not to be shut down through lack of power.
d) This makes the UK hostage to France which is frightening as the French will take full advantage of this.

(NB The French power company EDF recently imposed higher rates on UK customers because President Sarkozy stipulated that price rises in France should not exceed a certain value. EDF was therefore charging UK customers more to subsidise their French domestic customers.)

e) The inevitable prospect for Britain after the power stations are closed is complete black-outs, huge costs to our industry and an increase in deaths from hypothermia amongst the sick and elderly.

(AM note – carbon dioxide is a plant food and global warming a proven myth. It is now merely a means of taxation and imposing more controls on industry to appease the green lobby. Why else do farmers pump pure carbon dioxide into greenhouses if it is not to encourage plant growth? And CO2 is 0.0385% of one percent of the earth’s atmosphere. If it trebled tomorrow no-one would notice, not least because the effect is logarithmic, not arithmetic…the more the change the less the impact.)

7.6 General Comments

a) Although UK trade with the EU amounts to only about 10% of our GDP the EU meddling, interference and legislation affects the whole of the UK’s economy and way of life.
b) From rubbish collections being reduced to every two weeks to the decimation of our Royal Mail and the closure of hundreds of post offices, the EU has had a disastrous influence on our daily lives.
c) Out of the EU the UK would not be liable to being fined £billions for not showing enough of a grovelling gratitude for the funds which are returned to the UK and which we provided (plus lots more) to the EU in the first place.
d) Yet David Cameron says that the EU is “good for Britain”. His attitude is totally incomprehensible and so is that of the voters who continue to vote for the Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem parties.

8 CONCLUSION

If we, our children and grandchildren are not to be subjected to much, much, more of the same thing there is only one answer. That is to support the UKIP and get Britain out of the EU at the earliest opportunity. Only this way will our descendants be able to vote for the government of their choice and at the same time avoid the colossal political and financial costs that are an integral part of being part of the costly, secretive and corrupt EU.

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Foot Note :

WHY ARE WE IN THE EU?

THE EU WILL COST US MORE THIS YEAR[1] AND EVERY YEAR

THAN THE COST OF THE JAPANESE EARTHQUAKE[2]
;BUT, since we joined the EU until 2006 and allowing for interest[3]:

Trade with the EU: DEFICIT of £865 billion
COST of being part of the EU; Thousands of £Billions[4]

Trade with the Rest of the World: £310 billion PROFIT

COST of being part of the Rest of the World: NOTHING.

So, David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband WHY is being in the EU “good for Britain”? What’s in it for YOU?

When are you going to put BRITAIN first?

[1] Cost of being in the EU this year is £130.6 Billion. Figure from the Taxpayers Allliance, quoted in the Daily Express Special Edition dated Saturday January 8, 2011

[2] “Cost of quake (Japanese Magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami) could hit £113 billion.” Evening Standard headline March 14, 2011.

[3] Trade figures from “How much does the European Union cost Britain”?, by Gerard Batten, MEP. Annual interest rates published by the Bank of England.

[4] Estimate. For example 7 more years of being in the EU will cost over £1000 Billion. By then we would have been in the EU for 45 years.