Should the United Kingdom remain in the European Union - Essay Example

Should the UK remain in the EU? Introduction According to UKIP leader Nigel Farage, Norway and Switzerland have thrived outside the EU and both countries enjoy access to single market since they are not controlled by EU laws on justice, agriculture, home affairs, and fisheries. According to Nigel’s argument, the Swiss model is better than membership to the European Union and it is time for UK to leave the EU. In this case, UK is a member of the free trade area and breaking from the EU will enable the country to enter in to bilateral trade agreements with other nations across the world without encountering the limitations faced in the EU bloc (Pilkington, 2001). The UK joined European Union in 1973, and has remained skeptical of the common currency that has now threatened the competitiveness of EU economy due to the high sovereign debts of the member states (Pilkington, 2001). UK has sought to exert more influence within the EU with not avail and citizens have mixed reactions of whether the UK should leave the EU or continue with its memberships even after British Prime Minister rejected the fiscal compact designed to save the future of EU (Pilkington, 2001). On the other hand, those in favor for continued membership in EU assert that countries like Norway and Switzerland still abide by the EU rules without any influence on their formation. David Cameron is of the opinion that UK has participated in EU trade rules formation and thus leaving the EU will allow other countries to dictate the trade rules on UK without capacity to participate in writing the rules. Thesis statement: the costs of UK’s membership in EU far outweighs the benefits and it is time to leave the EU. Proponents of leaving the EU Those in favor of UK leaving the EU assert that 90 percent of UK trade does not depend on EU yet the country is bound by EU rules on trade. In this case, UK depends on small and medium enterprises for its job creation and economic growth and this sector should be freed from EU regulations (Newman, Sather & Woolgar, 2013). Bilateral trade agreements with emerging economies such as India, Brazil and China is possible through the World Trade Organisation and thus UK will be capable of enjoying cheaper imports due to favorable and low tariffs associated with the bilateral trade arrangements especially in the food sector (Pilkington, 2001). The current eurozone crisis are expected to continue for the next decade and European Central Bank will be called upon to bail out some of the member states from the sovereign debt crisis. The UK is excluded from the euro meaning that it is less vulnerable to the Southern sovereign bonds (Minford& Nowell, 2005). Some argue that UK benefits from foreign direct investments and technology spillovers from the multinational firms from the EU region. However, free trade is more beneficial since it will allow the economy to enhance productivity due to comparative advantage and make UK industries more efficient in their production. Although the EU restricts against subsidies to certain industries, the WTO has a better framework of controlling this vice thus ensuring smooth and competitive global trade (Matthews, 2011). Another argument that has been put for UK leaving the EU is that the move will save the taxpayers billions of shillings that are paid as membership fees and ‘hidden tariffs’ that are associated with exports. The EU trade is associated with wastage, red tape and fraud and thus UK will be capable of attaining efficiency in exports to other markets (Minford, Mahambare & Nowell, 2005). For instance, UK net contributions to the EU increased from 6.8 billion pounds in 2009 to about 10.8 billion pounds in 2011 thus hindering trade in London. UK contributions to EU are wasted as evidenced by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that accounts for almost 50 percent of EU spending despite the fact that its only employs 5 percent of the EU citizens (Pilkington, 2001). Proponents of leaving the EU argue that the institution has become undemocratic and unaccountable since most of the EU legislation is not approved by UK national parliament. The powers within EU are disparately divided among EU parliament, the Commission and Council of Ministers thus citizens have few opportunities of impacting on EU legislation since it is done by the elected representative to the European Parliament. In the UK, citizens can influence polices through national elected officials unlike at the EU level (Matthews, 2011). According to Bloomberg, Pew Global Attitudes poll conducted in May 2013 demonstrated that only 43 percent of citizens favor the integration with EU and only 26 percent believe that UK has benefited from EU membership. Anguis Reid poll in Britain in July 2011 showed that 49 percent of citizens would vote for UK to leave the EU will 25 percent favored continued membership. Furthermore, Chatham House/YouGov poll of September 2012 indicated that 57 percent of the citizens would like a referendum ion leaving the EU and 49 percent would vote to leave the EU. There is evident that Independent Party (UKIP) position to leave the EU has gained momentum than the Pro-European Liberal Democrats thus an immediate referendum will ensure UK actually leaves the EU. In this case, David Cameron’s promise of a referendum in 2017 is just a gimmick to win elections since his government is unpopular and public perceptions have shifted in favor of UK leaving the EU (Minford, Mahambare & Nowell, 2005). The UK has not been able to take full charge of its sovereignty and control its national borders. The UK has about 2.3 millions citizens from the EU countries and this account for about 27 percent of the total number of net migrants in the UK. In this case, the flow of illegal immigrants has exerted undue pressure on UK social services thus leaving the EU will allow the nation to reduce costs associated with illegal immigration (Matthews, 2011). Media commentators argue that leaving the EU will free UK from the European arrest warrant, but the nation will still be capable of adhering with the provisions of European Court of Human Rights. In this case, this would be a bold step towards British democracy as evidenced by the Westminster Parliament that managed to regain its sovereignty (Newman, Sather & Woolgar, 2013). According to BBC commentators, Ian Hislop argues that UK remains isolated in the EU due to the euro crisis and endless summits have done nothing to solve the real problems facing the entire economic and monetary unit. The British media has argued that negotiation is not a viable option as David Cameron has promised since other euro zone leaders will not accept orderly break-up. Opponents of leaving the EU The opponents of leaving the EU assert that UK has benefited from EU membership and its interests are best served while a member rather than outside when it has no influence. The single market is a success story for UK citizens since it supports millions of jobs and industries across the economy. A case example is the pharmaceutical and chemical industry that exports 56 percent of its 53 billion pounds exports to the EU market and employs an average of 320,000 people (Cridland, para 1). In this case, EU membership grants UK a direct access to a wide market and free flow of investments in an economy that has more than half billion people. Although UK needs to sign new trade deals, leaving EU is detrimental to its influence in trade since other countries will have the power and influence to make rules on trade on behalf of UK. From the global economic analysis, UK must retain its influence on trade since emerging and attractive economies and markets like Brazil and China are likely to dominate the global commerce thus threatening the competitiveness of the isolated UK (Cridland, para 3). Reforming the EU institutions and bailing high sovereign debt countries like Spain should not be an excuse for leaving the EU since UK will be capable of exerting more influence on those countries and fostering closer trade links (Cridland, para 5). Accordingly, proponents for continued membership claim that UK benefits from EU employment laws and other social protection measures. In this case, the UK has close to 1 million citizens who work in other EU countries this would create uncertainty on their benefits since they have been paying their taxes in the UK (Matthews, 2011). The move to leave EU will strip UK the much needed global economic and social influence since the US and other emerging economies would ignore UK in certain international issues. In this case, membership in EU will retain UK influence in Paris, Berlin and other strategic partners in European Union (Newman, Sather & Woolgar, 2013). From an economic point of view, the EU remains UK’s leading export market and trading partner thus leaving the EU will have devastating effects on the overall economic economic variables such as the exchange rate, the foreign exchange reserves, the prevailing domestic debt levels and rate of economic growth (Newman, Sather & Woolgar, 2013). In this case, UK should take the advantage of its membership to the EU to pursue beneficial economic agreements with other regions rather than wait to be an isolated partner and then start engaging other countries. David Cameron has initiated negotiations with the US with the aim of forming the largest free trade area that will enhance cross-border trade between the two nations (Matthews, 2011). Accordingly, leaving the EU will lead to capital flight thus threatening millions of jobs in the foreign owned motor manufacturing sector that forms the backbone of UK economy. It is a fact that multinational companies will shift their operations to low-cost EU countries and emerging markets such as China in order to enjoy economies of scale and competitive advantage thus threatening UK’s economic competitiveness (Matthews, 2011). Leaving the EU will spark greater tensions between the UK which is an island nation and the rest of the EU which is considered as the mainland. From the historical point of view, the EU integration has avoided numerous conflicts and wars that would happen between UK and its historical arch-rivals such as France, Italy and Germany. Although US and Russia lead in global nuclear weapons, disintegration of the EU will tempt nations such as France and Germany to acquire such weapons due to fear of military confrontation with UK thus hindering attainment of global peace and stability (PostDesk Team, para 6). The EU is a democratic institution that can be reformed since the representative state minister votes for EU legislation thus the directly elected EU parliament have no much power. In this case, it is critical for UK to focus on reforming the EU and not leaving since there is an option of changing the laws and treaties governing the union (PostDesk Team, para 10). Conclusion I believe it is time that UK leaves the EU and forms economic partnerships with other regions and emerging economies like China and Brazil in order to attain higher economic growth, increase in export volumes and greater global political influence. Leaving the EU will benefit UK from the ability to form bilateral agreements with emerging economies, cheaper import prices and high employment creation in the medium sized industries. UK will be capable of controlling immigration numbers that have added undue pressure on social services like hospitals and housing sector. The UK will avoid changing its currency from pound to euro and will be capable of cooperating with other global powers such as US in international matters such as fighting crime and terror activities. Portugal and Greece are bankrupt while Spain and Italy are in deep debt trouble and thus UK should leave the EU and start focusing on trade agreements with other regions across the world. Reference list: BBC. 2012. ‘UK and the EU: better off out or in’, BBC UK Politics News 14th May 2013, (Web): http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-20448450. Cridland, John. ‘The UK is best served inside a reformed EU’, January 2014, (Web): http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/18/eu-britain-in-out-eu-referendum. Matthews, R. 2011. Can Britain leave the EU: a warning history. London: Bretwalda Books. Minford, P., Mahambare, V & Nowell, E. 2005. Should Britain leave the EU? : an economic analysis of a troubled leadership. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Newman, D., Sather, T & Woolgar, B. 2013. Pros and cons: a debater’s handbook. New York: Routledge. Pilkington, C. 2001. Britain in the European Union today. Manchester: Manchester University Press. PostDesk Team. 2012. ‘Why Britain should stay in the EU-and how we need to accept that greater ties and integration are inevitable’, March, 2012, (Web): http://www.postdesk.com/britain-stay-in-european-union. Read More