Should Britain leave the EU?

The book Should Britain leave the EU? was published by the Institute of Economic Affairs in 2005.

EU voters are telling the politicians they do not like the EU treaty. Several countries in the eurozone are drifting into recession and the euro declines on foreign exchanges.

Professor Patrick Minford and others examine whether the UK should leave the EU in a new book and concludes that membership costs the UK about 3.2% of GDP. That will rise further if taxes are harmonised or if the UK bails out the bankrupt pension systems of Germany, Italy and France. The most expensive element of EU membership is the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The CAP is riddled with fraud and causes high food prices because of EU intervention in food markets and grants paid to farmers. The CAP takes half the EU's budget (of which the UK is the second largest net contributor) and a third of it is paid to France although nobody can be sure because the court of auditors has refused to sign off the EU's accounts for ten years. Professor Minford shows an identical basket of food in New Zealand costing £39.48, compared with £84.68 in Britain.

However, there has been one example where the EU has managed to improve things. Europe's state airlines had to submit to the Open Skies Agreement. As a result of this any EU airline can fly to fly to any EU airport, air travel has boomed and no-frills airlines have taken off. Ryanair now flies more passengers than BA.