Following on from the Slog piece yesterday about Britain’s trade gap with the EU, I dug out some numbers from the Open Europe website. They are startling enough to make one wonder why anyone in their right mind ever wanted to join the EU in the first place.

Without getting into Blair trashing (which these days is like shooting at grounded pheasant) his negotiating skills in 2005 have meant that the subscription and running costs look horrendous for the UK going forward. The new Office of Budget Responsibility revised Britain’s 2010 net contribution up by an eye-popping half a billion Pounds this week – and predicted the cost of membership will reach £10.3 billion by 2014.

Open Europe’s Sarah Gaskell yesterday said, “It is now shockingly clear just how poor Tony Blair’s 2005 deal was for the UK”.
So to summarise, trade losses and membership fees will cost the UK £50 billion per annum – and that’s before bailout costs arrive….for a currency of which we aren’t even members.

This is a no-brainer, isn’t it?