New research by Vote Leave shows that in 2014:
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The cost of the UK’s budget contributions to the EU and the burden of just 66 of the EU’s single market regulations outweighed what the European Commission claims are the benefits of the single market by £4.5 billion per year.
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The true cost of the single market will be much higher.
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66% of the 100 most burdensome EU regulations on British companies are single market regulations, costing British business £22.6 billion every year.
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The single market accounts for 68% of the cost of the 100 most expensive regulations for British businesses.
The table summarises the results:
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The costs and benefits of the single market in 2014 |
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Benefits of the single market (European Commission) |
£37,301m |
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Costs of UK’s membership fee & 66 single market regulations |
£41,768m |
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Costs less benefits |
-£4,467m |
Commenting on the research, Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the Vote Leave campaign said:
‘Pro-EU politicians like Peter Mandelson and Nick Clegg claim that we need to stay in the EU because businesses are helped by being in the EU’s single market.
‘Our research shows that the benefits of the single market are far outweighed by the costs of EU regulation which is on top of the multi-billion pound bill we give to Brussels each year.
‘After we Vote Leave, we will be able to take back control and negotiate a new trade deal with Europe based on what’s in Britain’s interests. We will stop sending billions each year to the EU and instead spend it on our priorities like the NHS.’
Please see the briefing for more details.
