EU Referendum: Would Britain benefit from leaving the EU?

Before 1973 when Britain officially joined the ECC, she was a country that was independent of the common market of Europe. However, Britain is one of the few countries in the Euro Zone that retained her own currency, the Pound sterling as Britain did not adopt the Euro currency as a part of Britain’s negotiation into Europe.

Fast forward to 2016 and Britain is on the brink of voting whether she will stay in the EU or if she’ll revert to her old ways. This vote has come around as a result of increasing Euro scepticism in the UK due to calamitous issues that have plagued the Euro zone of late.

Most recently there is the terrible economic turmoil that has befallen Greece that has seen over 50% of young people unemployed and national debt ratio to GDP increase to levels over 200% which has resulted in a weaker Euro that currently isn’t showing many signs of strengthening.

One of the main arguments that comes from the Pro-Europe campaigners is that without access to the free trade agreement that Britain’s membership in the EU guarantees which gives Britain access to a market of 500 million plus people to sell products to and Britain’s exports to the EU accounts for roughly 46% of British exports.

However, EU sceptics often argue that even were Britain to vote for a brexit, Britain would be able to negotiate a free trade agreement with the rest of the EU anyway in a deal similar to what countries like Switzerland and Norway enjoy which would also have the added benefit of allowing Britain to negotiate better trade deals with overseas partners like China, India and the USA which could be even more beneficial to the UK’s economy.

In conclusion, I think that the public have a plethora of information to consider before the referendum is held as the answer to this question is such a convoluted one that it’s near impossible to definitvely say which is the better option: in or out. Overall, I hope that the government do more in the short time leading up to the referendum so that the public have access to unbiased information to properly allow them to make an educated vote.