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SOUND-BITE FACTS   -   TRADE & THE ECONOMY
CLICK ON EACH FACT BELOW  for details and official sources, or scroll down
The EU is the biggest-failing trading bloc
in the World
.

Its share of the world economy has almost halved since 1980.


Access to the 'Single Market' has made
no difference to our growth
.

(Click items for more details)
2 SIMPLE QUESTIONS TO THE REMAIN CAMP
  1. YOU SAY THE EU IS VITAL FOR OUR ECONOMY
  2. Where’s the growth effect since we joined?
  3. ‘ACCESS TO THE SINGLE MARKET’
  4. Where's the additional growth effect since the 'Single Market' started?
Facts4eu.org - 28 Apr 2016
Outside The Failing EU, World Trade Gives Us A Growing, Exciting Future.
Suggestions for more facts? Other comments? See bottom of page.
'BREXIT WON'T HURT UK's TRADE'
Brexit won't affect trade with UK, say World's biggest companies...
 
OBAMA 'UK TO BACK OF QUEUE’
UK doubled US exports since 1998, without a trade deal...
WORST EVER TRADE DEFICIT WITH EU
However the UK's exports to the rest of the world increased again by 5%...
 
IMF GETS IT WRONG AGAIN
Cameron & Osborne enlist discredited IMF in discredited Project Fear...
UK ECONOMY GROWS FASTER THAN EU
The UK has been the fastest-growing major economy in the EU for the last 3 years...
 
QUICK QUIZ - BUYING & SELLING
Who do we buy from and sell to? The answers might surprise you...!
UK's WORLD TRADE INCREASING
Over half (56%) of the UK’s exports now go to non-EU countries...
 
WHAT'S THE SINGLE MARKET?
Do we need it and does it make us better off...?
 
TRADE DEALS DON’T TAKE 10 YEARS – UNLESS YOU’RE THE EU


TRADE DEALS DON’T TAKE 10 YEARS – UNLESS YOU’RE THE EU
Singapore negotiates and has trade deals up and running in an average of 22 months.
The EU takes up to FIVE TIMES longer to conclude Free Trade Agreeements.
  • Singapore accounted for £5.6 billion worth of UK exports in 2014 - and that's without being able to do a free trade deal (the EU won't let us).
  • The EU has taken 9 years to conclude a trade deal with Singapore (and counting – it’s still not ratified).
  • The fastest Singapore deal took 12 months to be up and running. The average was 22 months, excluding the EU.
  • The EU has 28 squabbling nations to bring into line, no wonder it takes forever.
  • The EU also tries to impose its human rights agenda and other political issues as part of the deal.
  • Project Doom & Gloom claim we'd take 10 years to do trade deals.
  • The rest of the world works much faster.
The EU slows down and hinders trade.
An independent UK will work faster and better, to the benefit of all of us.
[Sources: Data for chart: Commonwealth Exchange: http://www.commonwealth-exchange.org/ | UKT&I - Doing business in Singapore: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/exporting-to-singapore/exporting-to-singapore | Various EU and national government sites: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2006/december/tradoc_118238.pdf | http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/countries-and-regions/countries/singapore/ | http://dutchcham.sg/eu-singapore-conclude-negotiations-on-free-trade-agreement-eusfta/ | https://www.mti.gov.sg/MTIInsights/Pages/EUSFTA.aspx | https://www.mti.gov.sg/MTIInsights/SiteAssets/Pages/EUSFTA/22%20May%202015%20%E2%80%93%20Initialling%20of%20the%20EUSFTA%20Investment%20Protection%20Chapter.pdf | http://www.mofa.go.kr/ENG/policy/fta/status/effect/singapore/index.jsp?menu=m_20_80_10&tabmenu=t_2&submenu=s_2 | https://aric.adb.org/fta/peoples-republic-of-china-singapore-free-trade-agreement | http://dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/safta/pages/singapore-australia-fta.aspx | https://aric.adb.org/fta/india-singapore-comprehensive-economic-cooperation-agreement | https://www.hcisingapore.gov.in/pages.php?id=75 | https://aric.adb.org/fta/japan-singapore-economic-agreement-for-a-new-age-partnership | http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/event/2001/1/0126-3.html | http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=35248747 | https://aric.adb.org/fta/new-zealand-singapore-closer-economic-partnership | https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/free-trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements-in-force/singapore/ ]
 
TWO SIMPLE QUESTIONS
TO MESSRS CAMERON & OSBORNE, CBI, IMF, WORLD BANK, G20, OECD, TREASURY, INSTITUTE FOR FISCAL STUDIES, THE BBC, GOLDMAN SACHS, PRESIDENT OBAMA, COUNTRY LEADERS, TONY BLAIR, MOST ECONOMISTS, COUNTRY LEADERS, INTERNATIONAL BANKERS, GLOBAL CORPORATIONS, ALMOST ALL 'ELITE' NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL BODIES, etc
  1. You’re told on a daily basis that ‘the EU is vital for our economy’.
  2. Hundreds of economists have written thousands of pages proving the UK will collapse if you vote Leave.
  3. So you should be able to see the effect on growth since we joined in 1973. We can’t, can you?
  4. Finally, the ‘Single Market’ which Mr Cameron and all Remainers talk about constantly: The Single European Act was adoped in 1986 and still isn’t working as intended.
The EU Commissioner’s Report of 2013 on the Single Market summarised things:
“European citizens and companies are still suffering the consequences of an unprecedented series of crises. Unemployment is high, businesses face difficulties accessing funding, and populism is on the rise across Europe.”
We only disagree with one word - ‘populism’.
The word the EU Commissioner should have used was ‘democracy’.
The rich and powerful are telling us to remain. Your vote is powerful - please use it.
[Sources: We researched many papers for the above fact-box. Here are just a few of them. Office of National Statistics quarterly year-on-year growth : http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/site-information/using-the-website/time-series/index.html#1 | EU Commission http://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/index_en.htm | Financial Times http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/101cf670-57fb-11db-be9f-0000779e2340.html | HM Gov’t https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/227069/2901084_SingleMarket_acc.pdf | Deutsche Bank 2013 Report | Bertelsmann Stiftung Report https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/fileadmin/files/BSt/Publikationen/GrauePublikationen/Policy-Brief-Binnenmarkt-en_NW_02_2014.pdf | Ruth Lea (ex-Treasury and ex-ITN Economics Editor) analysis http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2949447/Personal-view-Its-official.-The-Single-Market-costs-outweigh-the-benefits.html ]
Contributing Editors: DC and TAC
 
WHAT IS ‘ACCESS TO THE SINGLE MARKET’ ?
Do we need it and does it make us better off?

1. The 'Single Market' isn’t a trade deal, it’s “free movement of goods, people, services & capital”

2. EU Commission & UK Government can’t quantify any trade benefit to the UK

3. Expectation was extra 4½% - 6½% growth in GDP – reality for UK may be 1%, say independent studies

4. EU Commissioner in 2006 admitted cost of Single Market had doubled

5. Single Market is almost all about goods but UK economy is almost all about services

6. It benefits other countries far more than us.

If the Single Market was so important, why haven’t we noticed a big benefit in over 20 years?
All the UK wants is a trade deal with EU countries, not trade + free EU immigration into the UK.
They sell us £87 billion more than we sell them, so they’ll want a trade deal more than us.
Contributing Editor: DC
[Sources: We researched many papers for the above fact-box. Here are just a few of them. Office of National Statistics quarterly year-on-year growth : http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/site-information/using-the-website/time-series/index.html#1 | EU Commission http://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/index_en.htm | Financial Times http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/101cf670-57fb-11db-be9f-0000779e2340.html | HM Gov’t https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/227069/2901084_SingleMarket_acc.pdf | Deutsche Bank 2013 Report | Bertelsmann Stiftung Report https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/fileadmin/files/BSt/Publikationen/GrauePublikationen/Policy-Brief-Binnenmarkt-en_NW_02_2014.pdf | Ruth Lea (ex-Treasury and ex-ITN Economics Editor) analysis http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2949447/Personal-view-Its-official.-The-Single-Market-costs-outweigh-the-benefits.html ]
 
'BREXIT WON'T HURT OUR TRADE WITH UK', SAY GLOBAL COMPANIES
1. Brexit won't affect our trade with the UK, says survey of Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) of world's biggest companies.

2. Nearly 73% said Brexit would mean 'no change' or 'slightly more likely to trade' with UK.

3. Only 2.1% said they were 'significantly less likely' to trade with the UK in the event of Brexit

4. The results come from the latest annual CNBC Global CFO Council survey

5. Think how much better we could do, if we weren’t being held back in a failing institution. Stepping out as a successful independent country is the safer option – the people of Britain can’t afford the desperate risk of being tied into the fast-failing EU.

This annual CNBC survey of the finance directors of the world's largest firms was one which could not be influenced by phone calls from Downing Street.
[Source: CNBC Global CFO Council Annual Survey 2016.]
 
PRESIDENT OBAMA : UK ‘TO BACK OF QUEUE’ FOR TRADE DEAL ON BREXIT
We’re sure the President didn’t mean to mislead, so here are the facts:-
  • The UK exported £47.5 billion to USA in 2014 – without a trade deal. Our exports have grown an average of 5% per year since 1998.
  • The EU hasn’t managed a US trade deal since 1958 – there isn’t one.
  • Current attempt (TTIP) ‘frozen up’ – only 15% of Americans and 17% of Germans support deal.
  • Trade deals are negotiated concurrently – UK is doing fine without waiting for EU deal which may never come.
  • The US has 20 free trade deals with individual countries – the UK is bigger than all of them.
President Obama's 'back of the queue' comment means no change.
The UK is doing fine exporting to the US without a free trade deal.
[Sources: ONS export data set 8 April 2016 https://www.ons.gov.uk/ | YouGov poll for Bertelsmann Siftung 21 Apr 2016: https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/fileadmin/files/BSt/Publikationen/GrauePublikationen/NW_Attitudes_global_trade_and_TTIP.pdf ]
 
UK'S EXPORTS TO THE REST OF THE WORLD INCREASE BUT TRADE DEFICIT WITH EU IS WORST EVER
Figures released by official Government sources (HMRC/ONS) show that:-
  • The UK's exports to the Rest of World increased again by a very healthy 5% in 2015.
  • EU trade is less and less and important for UK.
  • EU sell us £85.3 billion more than we sell them.
  • That's a trade deficit with the EU of £85.3 billion (not £67 billion which is often quoted).
The EU - They Need Us More Than We Need Them
[Sources: ONS and HMRC reports and tables issued 08 April 2016.]
 
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND SCAREMONGERING AGAIN
Cameron and Osborne enlist discredited IMF in discredited Project Fear
1. The UK's exit from the European Union could cause "severe regional and global damage", the International Monetary Fund has warned in its latest outlook today.

2. Should we be worried? Not if the IMF’s past performance is anything to go by.

3. The IMF lost all credibility in 2013 when it said the UK’s economic policies wouldn’t work and gave the UK the biggest growth downgrade of any developed country for 2013 and 2014.

4. In fact growth increased by three times the IMF’s forecasts in 2013 and twice their forecasts for 2014. These were errors of enormous magnitude.

5. The UK Government is one of the largest bankrollers of the IMF – our 2016 quota is $27.76 billion.

6. The Head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde was the Europhile French Finance Minister. She is currently due to stand trial before the French Court of Justice in a €400 million fraud and negligence case.

7. In 2012 Ms Lagarde famously criticised the Greeks for not paying enough tax, and days later it emerged that she pays no tax at all on her IMF income of $550,000 per year.

8. On 16 January 2016 the IMF had to ask its member countries to double their contributions – a worrying sign in an organisation controlling the finances of countries in trouble.
Project Fear - The Attempted Intimidation Of The British People Grows...
[Sources: BBC News : http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36024492. IMF Factsheet 16 Jan 2016 : https://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/quotas.htm . IMF Quota Subscriptions List 2016 : www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/pdf/quotas.pdf . The Guardian : http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/apr/16/imf-pressure-george-osborne-cuts . World Bank : http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG . Daily Telegraph : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/9298501/Christine-Lagarde-attack-on-Greece-backfires-as-she-pays-no-tax.html . ]
 
The Failing EU Superstate Economy
1. The EU is the biggest-failing trading bloc in the World. Its share of the world economy has almost halved since we joined.

2. In the last 10 years the EU’s share of world GDP has fallen at a rate almost 70% steeper than that of the US.

3. The official IMF figures show that the EU’s place in the world has been declining for decades, and it’s now declining even faster than it was.

4. The UK has been the fastest-growing major economy in the EU for the last 3 years. And in that time we’ve created more jobs than all the other 27 EU countries put together.

5. Think how much better we could do, if we weren’t being held back in a failing institution. Stepping out as a successful independent country is the safer option – the people of Britain can’t afford the desperate risk of being tied into the fast-failing EU.

Leaving the failing EU – the safer economic choice for the people of the UK.
[Source: IMF data tables.]
Quick Quiz - The UK's Buying and Selling Habits
Who does the UK sell most to?
  1. France
  2. Germany
  3. USA
[Answer: USA – a non-EU country – buys the most from us.]
Which country sells the most to the UK?
  1. Germany
  2. USA
  3. Switzerland
[Answer: Germany – an EU country – does best out of selling to us.
So they certainly won’t want to stop trading with us if we leave the EU!]
Which is the UK’s fastest-growing export market compared to a year ago?
  1. Netherlands
  2. Switzerland
  3. France
[Answer: Switzerland – a non-EU country - is buying
38% more from us than a year ago.]
Which is our biggest export region?
  1. The EU
  2. The Rest of the World
[Answer: The Rest of the World. It represents 56% of our sales as a country and this
percentage has grown steadily. The EU market has a reducing importance for the UK.]
*      *      *
In each answer above, the UK is doing better from non-EU countries than from our EU partners. If we could negotiate our own trade deals with the Rest of the World – something currently prevented by our EU membership – we would do even better.

Outside The Failing EU, World Trade Gives Us A Global, Growing, Exciting Future.
The Great British Trade Future
1. Over half (56%) of the UK’s exports now go to non-EU countries. This percentage figure has jumped by 24% in just 15 years. The EU’s importance to the UK shrinks each year as the World’s importance to us grows.

2. We’ll do even better outside the EU, which currently prevents the UK from making its own Free Trade Deals. The 161 countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have grown their trade by 276% since 1995.

3. The EU has managed to make only six working Free Trade Deals in its history – with countries like Chile and Costa Rica. It has only made 25 more complex deals ‘related to trade’ – mostly with underwhelming economies, including San Marino, Andorra, and the Faroe Islands. Nothing with the US, China, India, Australia, etc…

4. Post-Brexit, the UK can make its own free trade deals with major economies, including a special one with our European neighbours. Even if we had to use the WTO, their average trade tariff is now less than 1%, according to the UN’s trade body UNCTAD. It would be hard for the EU to argue for more.

Outside The Failing EU, World Trade Gives Us A Global, Growing, Exciting Future.
[Sources: ONS, UK Balance of Payments, Pink Book 2015. EU Commission ‘The EU's bilateral trade and investment agreements’. EU Commission Trade website. World Trade Organization - International Trade Statistics 2015. UNCTAD – ‘Key statistics and trends in trade policy’.]
 


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