Bald fact No. 5

Bald fact No. 5

What does the EU do for our money?

We can argue forever about the cost of the EU to the UK, but it is fact that it is a lot less than the £350 million per week claimed by Brexit campaigners. But there is a cost, so what do we get for it? Here are just a few 'services' that the EU provides for the UK, that we otherwise would need to fund ourselves (these are ones that I think we can all agree are helpful!):

• Food safety
• Competition (such as pursuing Google and Microsoft for anti-competitive practices)
• Single market - regulating the tariff free zone and negotiating with non EU countries)
• Training and education - a huge range of pan-European programmes across Universities and other training providers
• Development and aid
• Climate
• Consumer protection
• Patents
• Research programmes
• CE marks
• Vehicle testing
• Space (ESA)
• Policing

Conclusion: I am unable to put a price on these services. My guess is that by sharing them, across EU nations the cost should be lower than if had to provide them ourselves.  However, there is an extra layer of bureaucracy..    Anyway, any responsible Brexiteer needs to budget for them.  I am waiting patiently!