UK’s Osborne puts a figure on decision to leave Europe
Print Edition
BRITISH finance minister George Osborne told voters that leaving the European Union would cost them thousands of pounds a year and sap funding for public services because it would do permanent damage to the country’s economy.
In a move likely to grab the attention of many Britons, who remain split on whether to stay in the bloc, Osborne pointed to Treasury figures which said breaking away could cost each household 4,300 pounds (US$6,100) a year by 2030.
Three days after official campaigning began for the EU membership referendum on June 23, Osborne said all alternatives to staying in the union would leave Britain’s economy smaller than if it stayed in the world’s biggest trading bloc.
Leading institutions and economists have warned about the short-term economic harm a so-called Brexit could cause but have been more reticent about the longer-term effect.
Anti-EU campaigners dismissed the Treasury’s estimates as worthless, but Osborne sought to hammer home his message that a Brexit would be felt by ordinary Britons.
“Britain would be permanently poorer if it left the European Union. Under any alternative, we’d trade less, do less business and receive less investment,” he said.
“And the price would be paid by British families. Wages would be lower and prices would be higher,” he said.
Sensitive voters
Most opinion polls show the rival campaigns running neck and neck although one published yesterday showed the “In” campaign had kept a 7 percentage-point lead.
Another poll last week showed just how sensitive voters are to what a Brexit meant for their own finances. YouGov said respondents who were evenly split shifted to 45-36 percent in favor of staying in the EU if they were told the cost of a Brexit would be 100 pounds a year.
Brexit supporters accuse the government of running a scare campaign. They say a post-EU Britain would flourish as it pursues its own trade deals and drops rules and regulations.
Osborne tried to dismantle those arguments yesterday, saying that even the least disruptive Brexit option for Britain studied by his ministry — a deal with the EU similar to Norway’s access to the bloc’s single market — would mean the economy nearly 4 percent smaller by 2030 than if it stayed in.
One of the leading “Out” campaigners, London Mayor Boris Johnson has sketched out a different future for Britain, citing a trade deal reached by Canada with the bloc which could free Britain from contributing to the EU budget and end its obligation to keep its borders open to all EU workers.
Osborne said that kind of deal would leave the economy 6 percent smaller by 2030.
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