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The Commonwealth: our alternative future

Monday, 10th March 2008

Closer ties between Britain and the Commonwealth make economic and political sense. UKIP, with its policy of a Commonwealth free trade area, is the only political party in the UK that offers the British public a sound alternative to EU membership. On Commonwealth Day, Paul Nuttall sets out a new vision of the world.

ALONGSIDE my UKIP membership, I also sit on the Executive Council of the United Commonwealth Society. My political ambition is for Britain to withdraw from the EU, so we can control our own affairs, and then cement stronger links with our natural partners in the Commonwealth of Nations.

In the second half of the twentieth century it was clear that the world was organising itself into economic blocs: NAFTA (North America), MERCOSUR (South America), ASEAN (South East Asia) and the EU (Europe). In signing up to the EEC (the forerunner of the EU) in 1972, Britain followed this trend and chose to join an economic bloc. However, what is becoming more apparent every year is that the EU is not an economic bloc and never was; it is the embryo of a European super-state.

I would argue that the increasing loss of sovereignty is too great a price to pay for membership of the EU and therefore Britain must look elsewhere. The answer, I would suggest, is close to home: the Commonwealth of Nations.

Today’s Commonwealth of Nations replaced the British Commonwealth in 1949 following India’s choice to become a republic. At the present time the Commonwealth comprises 53 independent nations. It has been growing since the 1950s and continues to do so.  The 1.6 billion people who make up the Commonwealth countries account for one quarter of the world’s population.

Membership is open to any state that adheres to individual liberty, accepts the English language as the predominant means of communication and recognises the Queen as the Head of the Commonwealth.  None of the independent states that are members of the Commonwealth is asked to pool its sovereignty and none of them has to adhere to crippling directives handed down from a central body. It sounds refreshing and all rather different from the EU.   

The Commonwealth constitutes over 40% of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), making it exceedingly influential in global trade. Indeed, member states handle trade worth $2.8 trillion annually with foreign direct investment outflows of $100 billion, which account for more than 20% of international trade and investment. Thus, in the sphere of international trade the Commonwealth is a very serious player. It is also a player that Britain foolishly seems to have turned its back on in favour of the EU trading bloc. This has understandably led to sense of betrayal on the part of some Commonwealth nations.  

The Commonwealth contains some of the largest economies on the planet. For example, Britain has the fifth largest economy in world, Canada comes in eighth, India twelfth, Australia thirteenth and New Zealand forty-fourth. The Commonwealth also contains some of the fastest growing and most dynamic economies on the planet.

The Indian economy, for example, is growing at stupendous rate. In 2006-07 India posted a growth in GDP of 9.6%, which is the second largest in the world behind China. This compares to the 3.1% of the EU. India is predicted to overtake Britain as the fifth largest economy in the world within a decade and some economists are even suggesting that India could become the world’s largest economy by 2050.

The Commonwealth includes nations with increasing populations and growing economies, in stark contrast to the EU with its ageing population and declining economic power. Therefore, whereas the Commonwealth opens up endless opportunities and enables us to look to the future, membership of the EU locks Britain into stagnation and firmly in the past.

Closer Commonwealth ties can only be initiated if Britain withdraws from the EU. This is becoming more difficult as British politicians purposely seek to entangle us ever more deeply in the EU web.  We need to act before it is too late.

It needs to be made clear that unlike membership of the EU, closer Commonwealth relations would not entail the amount of red tape that ties the hands of British businesses and our financial institutions. It would also free Britain from the shackles of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and allow us to negotiate agricultural deals and trade with Commonwealth nations, such as New Zealand. It would provide Britain greater access to Canada’s natural resources, which can only be matched by those of Russia. It would mean cheaper food for British people because we would fall outside the EU's external tariff barrier. Leaving the EU would also release Britain from the destructive clutches of Common Fisheries Policy and return to us the power to control our own waters.

Closer ties with the Commonwealth make economic and political sense. UKIP, with its policy of a Commonwealth free trade agreement, is the only political party in the UK that offers the British public a sound alternative to EU membership. It is an alternative that would rid Britain of the suffocating constraints of EU red tape and directives; it would allow Britain to trade freely with whomever it wanted to and would no longer put British sovereignty in jeopardy. What UKIP is therefore offering is a bright future outside the EU and at the heart of a dynamic Commonwealth. 

Paul Nuttall formed UKIP South Sefton Branch and is an IND/DEM Group Researcher in the European Parliament. He also sits on the Executive Council of the United Commonwealth Society.

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