thoughts on UK +++ #revoke #remain #reform

It's all so much clearer today. Almost impossible to think back to those heady days before the Referendum. The days when UK had negotiated its concessions to its EU membership.

Before the last two years, I thought of our agreement as Germany +++.

Better branding might be UK +++. I think it's still far better than any of the current offers on the table. Even now we might be better served with 'revoke, remain, reform'.

The UK formally pays in circa £14bn per annum to the EU but with rebates the resultant amount is closer to £8.6bn. That’s £165m per week. Or £130 per head of UK population, or £252 per year per taxpayer.

It’s less than the amount the UK gives to foreign aid and around 1% of the government’s spending bill.

In return (and as fifth largest global economy) UK gets access, membership and influence of one of the three biggest trading blocs and economies in the world. Kind of AAA status, notwithstanding some of the duff Farrige- style representatives we've fielded.

UK +++
Let’s recap some of the special things already available to UK:

• The UK has an opt out of the Euro.
• The UK has an opt out of Schengen.
• The UK has a veto over new members of the EU.
• The UK has a veto over Treaty change.
• The UK has a veto over proposed EU army.

Then, a few more agreements secured by UK and to be written into EU treaties.

• UK, under Cameron, secured an opt out from ‘ever closer union’.
• The UK secured the proposal that if 55% of EU member states agreed they could block a legislative proposal from the European Commission.
• The UK secured recognition that the Euro is not the only currency in the EU and that non- euro countries would not have to fund eurozone bailouts and they would be reimbursed from central EU funds that support the Euro.
• There's more, but this gives enough of a flavour.

Now, I suppose if I ignore all of that above information, we have to start to think of the alternative UK outside of the EU.

An off-Europe deregulated tax-haven, run by Bojo, perhaps?