Should the United Kingdom withdraw from the European Union? The two prevailing opinions regarding the European Union are that the United Kingdom should either withdraw from the EU or renegotiate to give the UK greater independence from it. These views are not in keeping with the increasingly globalised and international nature of society and are based largely on myths and misinformation. Firstly, it must be established exactly why withdrawing from the EU would be a poor decision for the UK to make. This will be accomplished by critically assessing the main arguments for withdrawal in order to remove the gild that the public’s misinformed perception has coated these arguments in, which has led to recent polls finding that a “Vote today would see Britain exiting [the] EU” (Orb International, 2014, cited in Shipman, 2014). One popular criticism of the EU is that the free movement of people has led to “benefit tourism”, whereby immigrants from other EU member states come to Britain “with the sole purpose of accessing a more generous benefit system”, according to Iain Duncan Smith (2011). The supposed cost of this was £2.5bn per year (Little, 2011), which, understandably, caused resentment towards the EU from British taxpayers; after all, their hard-earned income was being taken and given to foreigners who, in their eyes, could not be bothered to work. What the public was not made aware of, however, was that this massive figure was completely unrealistic because it was the
With diminishing control of what happens in Britain, the British people decided it was best to vacate the union. The British were dealing with the laws given by the European members who were not living and experiencing the country themselves. To provide an example of a ghastly law given to the British people, they, as part of the European Union, were only allowed to catch 20% of the fish swimming in British territorial waters. What this meant was that tens of thousands of jobs were lost and they were not able to use one of the most significant resources given to them, as Britain is surrounded by ocean. Nigel Farage, Leader of the UK Independence Party, says that his fellow Englishmen, “effectively gave away the ability to look after one of our greatest resources to a bureaucracy based in Brussels.” Because of the way the government was set up, “Not only could the voters not change anything, but the institutes themselves are incapable of reform.” With an already maimed government, the European Union was creating more problems than it was solving. The British people had enough of giving up their rights as British citizens so the European Commission could tell them how to live. Therefore, with problems like those arising from the Union and with no hope to resolve them, Britain filed for secession and pulled out of the union
The issue of whether or not the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union has been debated heavily over the past decade, with the debate heating up even more from the current European Sovereign Debt Crisis. Recent polls of the UK population showed that around half of the UK’s citizens would vote to pull out of the EU if it went to referendum. However, after all of the economic, political, and social advantages of being a member of the EU are considered, it remains clear that leaving the EU is not in the UK’s best interest. Economically, it does not make sense for the UK
The decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union has served in reshaping the way politics works in Europe. On June 3rd, 2016 a massive 30 million people came out to vote on the future of their countries. In the end, the vote to leave won 51.9% to 48.1%. Places like England and Wales both voted in favor of the exit, while Scotland and Northern Ireland voted overwhelmingly to stay in. While the long term effects of this decision obviously need time to be observed, the immediate economic impact has been somewhat mixed. The day after the vote was a cause for concern in that “the pound slumped after the referendum - and remains around 10% lower against the dollar and 15% down against the euro” (Wheeler 17). In contrast to this,
Throughout the history of European integration, the major UK parties have debated on all different aspects of Europe and the impacts of membership on Britain itself. From both these debates and party policies, it is clear to see that whilst there is generally a consensus over Europe, some issues have been a cause of disagreement among the major parties. In this essay I will analyse the policies and actions of the major UK parties that concern the EU and be able to conclude to what extent they agree over Europe.
There is no doubt that Brexit has caused a divide amongst the UK population, with 52 to 48 percent in favor of leaving. “Take back control” has been at the forefront of the Brexiter’s campaign. It is argued the UK Parliament has lost its power since joining the European Union (EU) in 1973.
UKIP are a British political party which believes that “immigration is far too high” and that Britain should “take back control of our borders” . Although both broad statements, UKIP fundamentally believes that it is not sustainable for Britain to allow the level of migrants entering the UK for much further. In the 2005 general elections (noticeably after the A8 countries entering the EU) “UKIP fielded 495 candidates and gained 618,000 votes, or 2.3% of the total votes cast in the election” . Yet in 2001 UKIP attained only 1.5% of the vote and failed to achieve any representation at Westminster.
The United Kingdom initially joined the European Union in 1973 for economic reasons hoping to promote trade and form relationships with other states in the Union. In 1975 the UK held its first national referendum on withdrawal from the European Economic Community. According to the poll,” 67 % of Britons voted to stay in the EEC and 32 % voted to leave the union” (GYE). Because of this result the UK stayed in the EU in 1975. Over the past 40 years the European Union has been through a lot of change, many more countries have joined the organization and the EU has extended its control over more aspects of daily lives. These changes have sparked a lot of controversy coming from both the UK public and
This report will look at the benefits and issues surrounding the UKs decision to remain as a member state of the European Union (E.U.). Along with the newly elected conservative government, came the announcement that a nationwide referendum would be held, by the end of 2017, in order to determine the British public’s stance on the issue of EU membership.
While the contributions of all member-states in the EU have been important and appreciated, the UK has brought a lot to the table that many other countries couldn’t. For example, the UK’s influence and the weight of just its name. For hundreds of years the UK has been powerful and if it had something to say, the world would listen. When the UK joined the EU it was a monumental victory for the existing member parties, because it meant that a powerful country, that could bring credibility and importance to a coalition previously lacking in both areas, would be joining their ranks.
The United Kingdom should not leave the EU because it would hurt trade, mess up it's own economy, and may tear apart the EU.
This article explains the “on-going” argument of whether or not Britain should remain in the European Union or leave. Prime Minister David Cameron vowed to keep Britain apart, winning the backing of most of most of his Cabinet and the goal of rival parties. Cameron has made it clear Britain is safer and stronger in the EU. However, much of Britain believes in opposition to their membership among the the European Union, leaving this as a constant
The European Union was established as an economic and political partnership between 28 European Countries (European Union, 2015). The UK has been stayed in the EU for over four decades from 1973 to now. In 1975, Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson had ever held a referendum on Britain’s membership in the EU and the voting result is to stay in the European Community. Recently, the article (BBC NEWS, 2015) reported that the UK has a plan to hold the second referendum by the end of 2017 to decide whether or not the UK should stay in or leave the European Union. This might be a significant referendum that may bring lots of impacts on the UK’s economy.
Whether UK should leave or stay with EU has recently become one of the most widely debated subjects and British citizens will soon have to decide their future in the EU as Prime Minister David Cameron has promised a referendum on ‘leave or stay’ question to the British people by 2017. This came at the time of Eurozone crisis when most of EU citizens including British are losing faith in EU, making the distance between EU institutions and EU citizens ever greatest. The reason for British people’s resentment is the lack of democracy: EU dictatorship, too many unnecessary laws and regulations to follow. Of course, there are Brexiteers who call for the UK to quit in order to regain national sovereignty and to be more democratic than they are now and those who want to stay. The essay to expresses disagreement to the statement that UK would be more democratic if it votes to leave EU.
The recent UK referendum sent shockwaves throughout the West and the wider world; few people had predicted that the British people would vote to leave the EU. So what led Brits to say a firm 'no thank you' to continued membership of the European Union? A look at surveys, statistics and anecdotal evidence may help us to solve this puzzle.
Thus, the leading party of the United Kingdom has approved a referendum on UK’s membership of the European Union. Opinion polls show that British citizens have a different perspective on the issue. A recent study conducted by center for European reform showed that “The younger generation of Britons favors European Union because it offers a good economic prospect. At the same time, the older generation perceives the EU as an anti-democratic institution. Experts form European commission suggests that the possibility of Britain exiting the EU has a profound effect on economics, business, and immigration of policies of Europeans.” (Simon, Philip, 9, 67).