anti-European or xenophobic about voting ‘Leave’ on June 23.” Boris is, of course, correct. You can
absolutely love Europe, whilst wholeheartedly disagreeing with the EU.
16. Secret TTIP deal threatens us all
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a series of controversial trade negotiations
which have been conducted mostly in secret between the EU and US. TTIP is about reducing the barriers
to trade for big business – things like food safety law, environmental legislation, banking regulations and
the sovereign powers of individual nations. Although details of the talks have only been released
through leaked documents and Freedom of Information requests and therefore remain sketchy, it’s
widely believed one of the main aims of TTIP is to open up Europe's public health which could lead to
further privatisation of the NHS.
Other proposals include loosening US banking regulations to benefit the City of London but which would
effectively hand more power back into the hands of bankers and the further erosion of UK democracy by
introducing the Investor-State Dispute Settlements (ISDS).
The ISDS means unelected transnational
corporations can dictate the policies of
democratically elected governments by
allowing them to sue governments if
their policies cause a loss of profits. Yes,
you read that right: businesses could
take governments to court if its profits
are infringed upon. TTIP has been
described as a “corporate power grab”
which Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said
could “sign away a lot of public services
across the whole continent.” It is
mind-blowing stuff, yet negotiations continue in secret and our politicians largely stay silent on the
issue.
17. Tear off EU straightjacket for small and medium-sized businesses
The truth is that business is split on Europe. Big multinationals, which use the EU to recruit employees
on lower wages, are not surprisingly more positive about the EU. Smaller businesses and entrepreneurs
are more hostile. Other countries have free trade agreements without having a supreme court in which
unelected judges decide everything from how we test cancer drugs to how our intelligence services
pursue terrorists. Entrepreneurs are increasingly suffocated by EU rules and have little influence in
shaping them. They are less able to afford expensive lobbyists or large compliance departments to cope
with the endless stream of regulations from Brussels.
More than 200 small business owners have signed an open letter urging Britain to leave the EU. It reads:
“As entrepreneurs, we deal with the EU’s constant diet of unnecessary regulations which add to our cost
base, reduce our bottom line, and raise prices for our customers for no return. If EU institutions are
tone-deaf to the genuine desire for change to remain competitive, the EU is destined to fail.”
In fact, the Government’s own figures show that only around 1 in 20 British companies export to the EU.
27 cross-party reasons to Leave the EU | @DavidSeadon