European Union

#1: The net contribution from the UK to the EU budgetIn 2013, the United Kingdom's net contribution to the EU Budget was over £10.5 Billion [1] (Government Statistics). #2 There is no trade benefit to the United Kingdom in staying in the European UnionA report from Civitas from just a few months ago has shown that there is no trade benefit to the UK in staying in the EU [2]. This is especially bad when you consider the cost of EU membership. #3 There is trade benefit to the United Kingdom in leaving the European UnionOutside of the EU, we would be able to trade on our own terms with countries outside of the EU [3]. This is reflected in the fact that food bills in each UK household would go down by £400 [4], which is partly because of the EU blocking cheaper imports from outside of Europe. #4 If we left the EU, there'd be a significant decrease in Fuel PovertyOutside of the EU, every UK fuel bill would be £112 cheaper [4]. This is important because of the scale of people who are either in fuel poverty or who will be in the near future [5]. #5 The European Union is not responsible for peace and puts us in risk of having a war/riotsIt is a common myth that the EU is responsible for the 70 years of peace. However, this is incorrect. There was no war between the European countries from 1945 to 1956. If anything is keeping the peace, it is NATO. It was NATO that stopped the violence in the civil war in Yugoslavia, which killed 100,000 people [6]. The European Union also caused the massive debts in Greece, which resulted in serious riots with over 300 injuries and 5 deaths [7]. We run risk of something like this happening in the future if we stay in the EU for much longer, as all EU countries will have the Euro forced on them in 2020 [8], the cause of the situation in Greece. #6 The EU has destroyed over 97,000 UK jobs. A report by the TaxPayers' Alliance has found that the EU has costed the UK 97,000 jobs with its fishing policy [9] - 9,000 in fishing and 88,000 in dependent industries onshore. We cannot change this EU policy [3] and are restricted by it until we leave the EU. #7 Outside of the EU, we will be able to have a fair and sensible immigration policyIt is clear that we cannot control immigration from EU countries whilst inside the EU [3]. This is what has led to the current system, where we have border controls but only for people from non-EU countries. Government statistics show that net migration is at over 200,000 [10], and other statistics show that nearly 40% of new housing in the future will be as a result of immigration [11]. If we were to leave the EU, we'd be able to only let in people who'd be able to really benefit our economy and fit a number of regulations, meaning that net migration would either be negative or insignificant and immigration would be responsible for not even 1% of new housing, which would be tackling the issue of overcrowding/overpopulation. #8 Outside of the EU, we would be able to restore democracy to our countryThe European Union was clearly not designed to be democratic. European Comissioners are not democratically elected [12], MEPs do not have the right to initiate legislation [13], and the EU has complete control over certain areas of law [3] - if a UK and an EU law disagree on a certain subject, it's the EU law that stands. Senior European Comissioner Viviane Reding has admitted that 75-80% of our laws are made in Brussels [14]. I think I have provided eight good reasons for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. Thank you. Sources[1] . https://www.gov.uk...[2] . http://www.bbc.co.uk...[3] The Treaty on the functioning of the European Union, a consolidated version of which is found here: . http://en.wikisource.org...[4] . http://www.ukip.org...[5] . http://www.poverty.org.uk...[6] . http://en.wikipedia.org...[7] . http://en.wikipedia.org...[8] . http://www.telegraph.co.uk...[9] P. 25, . http://www.ukipmeps.org...[10] . http://www.ons.gov.uk...[11] . http://www.migrationwatchuk.org...[12] . http://en.wikipedia.org...[13] . http://www.finance-watch.org...[14] . http://www.ukip.org...