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�106,000 per minute cost of EU

Thursday, 20th November 2008

Gerard Batten MEP

UKIP MEP Gerard Batten has calculated that membership of the EU is costing Britain £106,117 a minute. In his latest publication for the Bruges Group, Mr Batten says the price of the combined direct and indirect expenses of our EU membership currently stands at £55.775 billion.

"As we enter what looks like the most serious economic crisis since 1929 membership of the European Union is a luxury that the British people simply cannot afford," Mr Batten says.

"It is clear that the EU is holding up economic recovery, to get Britain out of recession, we must get Britain out of the EU.

"If the British Government really believes that membership of the EU is in the interests of the British people they should commission an independent cost/benefit analysis to demonstrate the economic effects of membership."

Mr Batten's analysis, How Much Does the EU Cost Britain? 2008, reveals that by the end of the current EU budget period, Britain will have made estimated total contributions to the budget of £315.4 billion gross and £101.4 billion net.
    •    By 2007 Britain had an accumulated trade deficit with the other EU member states of £383.7 billion.
    •    The Common Agricultural Policy costs Britain at least £16.8 billion per annum.
    •    The Common Fisheries Policy costs Britain at least £3.275 billion per annum.
    •    Over-regulation on business costs Britain at least £28 billion per annum.
    •    In 2008 membership of the European Union costs Britain almost £65.675 billion per annum gross or almost £55.775 billion per annum net.

The booklet suggests that because the EU is riddled with corruption, it is likely that the equivalent of Britain's entire net contribution to is going into the pockets of fraudsters.

Mr Batten says: "As politicians of the three main parties are struggling to explain how they will deliver the tax cuts that the British economy needs, they have failed to realise that this money can be found if we stop paying the EU billions of pounds per year of taxpayers' money.

"The 2% boost to economic growth created by leaving the EU and slashing its excessive red tape would also increase tax revenue by £10.73 billion.

"Combine that with the direct savings to the exchequer and it will allow for a 6p in the pound cut in the basic rate of income tax."