Europe – should we stay or should we go?

OBV Graduate Olivia Boland shares her views on Britain’s role in the European Union as she feels that some politicians have just got it wrong.

Staying in Europe or getting out is a mathematical question. I believe that it is financially illiterate for parties like UKIP and those on the right wing of the Conservative Party to talk about leaving Europe when more than 45% of our exports go to the free trade zone of Europe.

I am not quite sure which role model they have in mind for Britain. Hong Kong and Singapore have mainly Chinese populations that are used to hard working with very low levels of social security and they are highly educated and politically obedient. These regions have been economically very successful and have been run with budgetary surplus year after year. This is certainly not the case for the UK’s current situation.

UKIP and the right wing of the Conservative Party will need to come up with mathematical calculations, namely, what is the cost to the UK to remain as a member of the European Union and what are the financial costs of us losing 45% of export jobs? The political parties will need to show us a picture of ‘Britain post EU’. Do they propose we become a tax haven (although you could argue that for some multi-national companies, that is already the case) on the shore of the continental Europe? I don’t think so. Even tax havens like Luxembourg and Switzerland had the good sense to become part of the EU for their own economic prosperity.

For sure we need to diverse our export markets. But there is absolutely no reason to give up a huge continent of export free trade market that is a mere 30 minutes train ride away, in exchange for those far away markets where we have absolutely no political leverage. It is common sense that a small country like Britain needs to spread its bets.

Olivia Boland

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