Trading blows with the Eurosceptics

The set-piece political event of the year will be the European Parliamentary elections, which will take place in late May. Polls are showing that UKIP might come first in those elections. Nigel Farage, the normally bullish leader of UKIP is now positively bubbling with Taurean ardour.

The UKIP sell has been framed largely in emotional terms, and to the notion that we should be sovereign and free from interference from unelected overseas functionaries. There is some force to that argument. Less examined is the eurosceptic economic case, put forward on behalf of UKIP by the economist Tim Congdon, and which makes clear the eurosceptic case that Britain's association with the EU is a net cost to British business.

Regulation, direct fiscal costs, resource misallocation, the cost of jobs and corruption—these are all cited by eurosceptics as reasons for which Britain should disengage from the EU. And then there is the matter of trade.

The eurosceptic position on trade is that the EU holds Britain back from developing trade relations with nations outside the EU. But is there any substance to this position? Will British exports be helped by secession from the EU?

This is the question taken up in a new report by the Centre for European Reform by Simon Tilford and John Springford, entitled: " The Great British Trade-off." The report explores Britain's trade position with Europe and finds that "the UK’s trade in goods with other EU member-states is much higher than one would expect."

The authors also say that: "there is no evidence that trade with countries outside the EU is constrained by Britain’s membership of the Union."

A video interview with the authors can be found here.