In its present form, the EU serves British interests very poorly. The time has come for us to finally take matters into our own hands.
But I don’t agree with the idea that we should simply withdraw now. That day may come, but surely not before we have given fundamental reform our best shot. Everything we do has to be to promote the UK’s interests, and then the referendum will finally settle the matter.
Those who advocate withdrawal ignore the risk that the actual process of leaving, potentially taking years to negotiate out of the complex web of EU agreements and treaties, would have a damaging impact on our economy. The ‘opportunity cost’ of leaving is also high – the UK is the biggest EU recipient of foreign direct investment – we are attractive to investors partly because we speak English and have good contract law, but above all because we are a foothold in a market of 300m people.
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