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Was Leaving the European Union the Right Decision for the UK?

by Dawda Njie

The United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community (EEC), now known as the European Union, in 1973. However, on the 20thof February 2016, former UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced that an in/out referendum would be held on the 23rdof June, to determine if the UK will leave or remain in the European Union. The turnout for the referendum was 72.2%, which is more than 30 million people, resulting in the “Vote Leave” campaign’s victory by a 51.9% margin (EU Referendum Results). Although referendums are not binding by parliament, given the high turnout the Conservative party would not defy the British public. Despite the fact that more Conservative party members of parliament, known as MPs, backed Remain. Former Mayor of London Boris Johnson and former Justice Secretary Michael Gove lead the Leave Campaign. Whereas, David Cameron himself and majority of the Labour Party MPs backed Remain ahead of the referendum (General Election 2017: Where UK’s Parties Stand on Brexit). The UK’s current Prime Minister Theresa May triggered Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon which officially became law December 2009. Article 50 “gives any EU member state the right to quit unilaterally and outlines the procedure for doing so. It gives the leaving country two years to negotiate an exit deal and once it’s set in motion it can’t be stopped except by unanimous consent of all member states,” (Midgley, James Rothwell; Robert). Since article 50 was triggeredMarch 29 earlier this year the UK will engage in a 2-year negotiation with the EU and officially leave on March 29, 2019. However, the United Kingdom’s upcoming departure from the EU has proven to be more detrimental than it has been beneficial as the Leave Campaign has already failed to deliver on some of many ambitious promises that Brexit will foster. As a result, leaving the EU was the wrong decision for the UK.The main debating topics are the cost to the British economy, trade with the EU, EU migration and Parliamentary sovereignty.

The EU membership cost was a highly debated topic before the referendum. Brexiters (those in favor of going through with Brexit/leaving the EU) argued that the UK spent too much money on the EU. The Office for National Statistic (ONS) defined as “the UK’s largest independent producer of official statistics and the recognised national statistical institute of the UK”, revealed that in 2016, the UK’s gross contribution to the EU was £18.9bn ($26.5bn), which accounts for approximately 2.3% of the government’s total expenditure. “However, this amount of money was never actually transferred to the EU.” This is because of the rebate (annual reduction in contributions) called the Fontainebleau Abatement which was successfully negotiated by former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in June 1984. In 2016, “the UK received a rebate of £5 billion” ($7bn) cutting the payment to £13.9bn ($19.5bn), but this doesn’t account for £4.4bn ($6.2bn) that “came back to public sector and private sector in credits in 2016.” This also included the “£359 million that came back through the European Regional Development Fund and £2.4 billion through the Agricultural Guarantee Fund.” Although it may seem bad at first glance, “the difference between the money it paid to the EU and the money it received – was £9.4 billion ($13.2bn) in 2016 as compared with the £18.9 billion gross contribution.” (The UK Contribution to the EU Budget). Therefore, the economic benefits of being a member of the EU easily outweighs the cost because aside from the membership cost the UK receives grants that redistributes money to develop poorer regions and subsidizes farmers.

One of the main slogans for the Vote Leave campaign was that the £350M ($490M) a week that was spent on the EU membership fee would be spent on the NHS (National Health Service), which was at the time facing budgetary restraints. One of the lead spokespersons for the leave campaign, former UKIP political party leader Nigel Farage, was interviewed by ITV’s Good morning Britain, where he was asked whether he could guarantee that the £350M would now go to the NHS, he replied, “no, I can’t I would never have made that claim.” He then went on to say that it was one of “the mistakes made by the leave campaign”. (Morgan, Kate McCann;Tom). This is an example of how the leave campaign failed to keep one of their many ambitious promises to brexiters, and the people who the managed to convince to switch from the Remain campaign to the Leave campaign.

Great Britain has put itself at a huge trading disadvantage as a result of Brexit, as well as, causing an economic downturn. However, some brexiters will argued that “UK companies would be freed from the burden of EU regulations” and “trade with EU countries would continue because we import more from them than we export from them”. Their main argument is that “Britain would be able to negotiate its own trade deals with other countries” such as USA, China or India therefore leaving the EU single market would enable the UK to diversify its products and its international links (UK and the EU). But the reality is that both UK consumers and businesses benefit from free trade with the EU because the EU is a customs union/single market; this makes trade between member states quicker and easier by enabling businesses to export goods and services to other EU member states tariff free, which is the essence of free trade. UK consumers can also benefit from free trade because UK businesses now not only compete amongst each other but now compete with all other EU member state businesses therefore businesses are forced to either lower their prices or compete by means of non-price competition such as increased quality of goods through innovation. Due to increases in competition, UK consumers benefit from cheaper prices, higher quality and more variety of goods to choose from.

In 2016 “UK exports to the EU were £236 billion, 43% of all UK exports. UK imports from the EU were £318 billion, 54% of all UK imports” (Ward, Matthew, and Dominic Webb). The ONS official statistics show that in that same year the top 3 countries the UK imported from were Germany (£75.1bn/$105.3bn), United States (£66.3bn/92.9bn) and Netherlands (£42.4bn/$59.4bn). This data shows that the UK imports more from fellow EU member state Germany mainly bringing in Germany cars to the UK. Therefore this proves that EU trade is vital to the UK as “goods imports from the EU were worth more than imports from the rest of the world combined.” (Who Does the UK Trade With) compared to the top export destinations which are The United States (£99.6bn/$139.5bn), Germany (£49.1bn/$68.8bn) and France (£33.8/$47.4bn) (Who Does the UK Trade With). The fact is that the UK imports more from the EU than it exports; almost half the UK exports are conducted with the EU. This proves that the UK is still dependent on the EU. This shows that the UK will still need to trade with the EU once the UK departs in 2019. However, with no free trade, tariff chargers will now apply to UK exports, which equates to higher cost for UK businesses and higher prices as well as less variety of goods and services for consumers. Furthermore, the argument about freeing business from EU regulation does not stand as the UK would still have to apply EU rules to retain access to the single market. Therefore, the UK would have been better off remaining in the EU (UK and the EU).

Another controversial topic of discussion was about immigration and border control. Brexiters argued that the UK needed to leave the EU to have more control over its borders. This is because being a member state of the EU not only includes free trade but also includes free movement of labor, meaning that workers of other member states can move to the UK without a VISA, work permit, or any other restriction hence the phrase free movement. This is the reason why Brexiters argued that “it is impossible to control immigration as a member of the EU” and now as a result “public services are under strain” due to EU migrants. The government has a target for total net migration set at 100,000 per year. However, total net migration is running at over 300,000 a year (UK and the EU). Brexiters also argued that EU migrants are taking away British jobs and driving down wages because when the supply of workers in an economy begins to exceed to the level of existing demand for labor, this then creates a surplus of workers, which drives wages down because there are more people without jobs who are willing to work for lower wages, therefore this gives business less of an incentive to increase wages to attract more workers. For example, if the national minimum wage is higher in the UK compared to another member state, then it makes sense for low paid workers of that member state to move to the UK so they can earn more income. This can be seen between 2013-2016, where EU workers in Britain rose “from 1.4 million to 2.1 million”. (Travis).

In 2016 official figures revealed “net migration from EU countries at 184,000 a year and non-EU at 188,000” (UK and the EU. BBC). This proves that there are more non-EU migrants in the UK, so most of the strain that brexiters are so concerned about is not being cause by EU migration. Therefore, leaving the EU would not directly stop EU migration but only slow it down and allow the UK to have more control over who comes in and out through VISAs and work permits. The UK actually benefits more than it suffers from EU migration thanks to the highly skilled EU migrants. This is because “immigrants, especially those from the EU pay more in taxes than they take out.” (UK and the EU). This is another example of how Brexiters were sold false truths and ill-informed about how EU migrants contribute to the UK economy.

Parliamentary sovereignty is the principal that parliament is the ultimate source of all law and there is no higher legal authority (UK and the EU). Brexiters argue that remaining in the EU would undermine the UK’s Parliamentary Sovereignty as “EU regulation are binding across all member states”. Therefore, the UK is subject to EU laws which are enforced by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), however, the majority of the laws in the UK are parliamentary laws whereas “only a minority of UK laws derive from the EU” (UK and the EU. BBC). This means that the EU does not really undermine parliamentary sovereignty to a significant degree as Parliament still remains the main legislator and law maker in the UK. Therefore, leaving the EU for parliamentary sovereignty didn’t really make that much of a difference in terms of parliament’s law-making power in the UK.

To conclude, yes, it is true that leaving the EU means that the UK will no longer have to pay a membership fee of £350M a week, which can be now spent elsewhere. The UK will also now be free to negotiate its own trade deals with other countries to diversify its international links. The UK will also have more control over EU migrants crossing the border control and true Parliamentary sovereignty will be restored. However, the UK will no longer receive grants and subsidies for UK farmers from the EU and the Leave campaign have already failed on their promise to spend the extra £350M a week on the N.H.S. Also, UK business will no longer be able to sell their goods tariff free to other member states. Consumer will no longer benefit from a greater variety of choice and cheaper goods. Furthermore, despite being able to negotiate new trade deals the UK will not be at a position of strength in the negotiation table because the EU still remains their biggest trading partner and other countries like the US or China do not need this trade deal as much as the UK, so they can use this to their advantage. Having more control over EU border doesn’t stop EU migration it only slows it down, and there are more non-EU migrants that cause most of the strain on public services. Finally, on the issue concerning parliamentary sovereignty, only a minority of UK laws are EU laws, which means the UK has not really made a significant gain in law making power. Therefore, as a result the United Kingdom are losing out more that they will gain, which is why they made the wrong decision to leave the European Union.

Works Cited

“EU Referendum Results.” BBC News, BBC, . Accessed 7 Nov. 2017.

General Election 2017: Where UK’s Parties Stand on Brexit.” BBC News, BBC, 1 June 2017, . Accessed 27 Mar. 2018.

Midgley, James Rothwell; Robert. “What Is Article 50? The Only Explanation You Need to Read.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 9 Jan. 2018, 27 Mar. 2018.

Morgan, Kate McCann;Tom. “Nigel Farage: £350 Million Pledge to Fund theNHS Was ‘a Mistake’.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 24 June 2016, . Accessed 7 Nov. 2017.

“The UK Contribution to the EU Budget.” Office for National Statistics, 31 Oct. 2017, ”″ 27 Mar. 2018.

Travis, Alan “Are EU migrants really taking British jobs and pushing down wages?”. The Guardian, 20 May 2016, . Accessed 7 Nov. 2017.

“UK and the EU: Better off out or in?”, BBC NEWS, 28 March 2017, . Accessed 7 Nov. 2017.

Ward, Matthew, and Dominic Webb. “Statistics on UK-EU Trade.” Commons Library Briefing – UK Parliament, 7 Nov. 2017, researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7851. Accessed 27 Mar. 2018.

“Who Does the UK Trade with?” Office for National Statistics, 3 Jan. 2018, 27 Mar. 2018.