Stuck in the middle with EU

How global regulators are killing the value of EU membership

  • One major argument for Britain remaining in the EU is that outside the bloc it would still be subject to single market standards, rules and regulations, but without a seat at the EU negotiating table, it would have no say over these.
  • In fact, an increasing number of EU regulations are made at the global level and not by the EU bureaucracy, which mainly performs a ‘wholesaler’ role, enforcing rules without creating them anew. The UK often does not have a full voice at the global level because of the EU’s need for a ‘common position’.
  • The UK does not need the EU to perform the wholesaler role for the majority of Single Market regulation that now falls within the ambit of global organisations and through Brexit, can also shorten the chain of accountability between UK government and global market governance.
  • Outside the EU, Britain would have a much louder ‘say’ on regulation, standards and rules that affected it—our voice is often muffled, distorted, and ignored when heard via the EU, which is increasingly becoming just another player in a multilateral world. The UK can be a powerful player in its own right.
  • Less than 8% of genuinely EU-originated law reaches countries like Norway, who are in the European Economic Area, which has free trade with the EU without the increasing political union.

Read the full paper online here.

And read the pdf here.