Meeting of the Parliament 26 May 2016
In this debate of two and a half hours, leave speakers have about 10 minutes or, with the grace of the Deputy Presiding Officer, perhaps 12. Therefore, the member will forgive me if I do not take an intervention on this occasion.
To add to the confusion, despite her vow that the 2014 separation referendum would be a once-in-a-lifetime event, the First Minister—asserting as usual that she speaks for all Scotland—assumes that Scotland will vote remain and says that, if the rest of the UK votes leave, it will justify another separation referendum. Ironically, she is therefore sending out a clear and unambiguous message to everyone in Scotland who voted against separation or who is sick to death of talk of a second referendum that, to avoid such a referendum, they should vote leave. However, each individual will make up their own mind how to vote.
I do not pretend to have all the answers, nor am I a member of any official leave campaign but, having considered the arguments, my reasons to vote to leave are as follows.
I will start with the economic argument and the EU itself. From 1980 to 2015, the EU’s share of world economic output dropped from 30 per cent to 17 per cent. At the end of 2015, the EU’s share of world trade was the same as it was in 2006. Every other continent in the world grew economically over the past 10 years.
Only 5 per cent of British businesses and fewer than 10 per cent of Scottish businesses export to the EU, but family businesses, small and medium-sized enterprises and other businesses are stifled by the burden of EU regulation. That in turn damages our economy and costs small businesses millions of pounds every week. Worse still, despite being the world’s fifth largest economy, Britain, as a member of the EU club, cannot sign independent trade deals with emerging markets.
Given those facts, it is impossible not to conclude that the EU is a failing and outdated institution. Members should remember that Britain joined the European Economic Community for trading reasons. A vote to leave would restore the freedom to trade with the rest of the world. Logically, because the EU exports more to the UK than we do to it, there would be tremendous advantages for the EU in continuing to trade with the UK.
However, the key argument for voting to leave goes far beyond the economic one and centres on the free movement of people. The European Union’s other 27 member states together have a population of 500 million, while the UK has a population of 65 million. With an ageing population, we need more migration, but the free movement of people means that we cannot choose the people with the skills that we need to grow our economy. Instead, anyone from that 500 million population can come and live in the UK. I understand why people from other parts of the EU would want to come here to improve their standard of living.