Professor Stephen Bush spells out the steps
the British Government would need to take to bring Britain out
of the European Union, and looks at some of the policies an independent
Britain would pursue...
Britain after withdrawal from the EU - An
Act of Supremacy
Parliament will pass a short "Act of
Supremacy" affirming that it is unlawful for the Courts of
the United Kingdom to consider any Agreement, Treaty, Pronouncement,
Law or Regulation not exclusively centred in the United Kingdom,
when interpreting any Act of Parliament.
Parliament will repeal, in a short single
"Act of Repeal":
European Communities Act 1972
Single European Act 1987
European Communities Amendment Act (Maastricht)
1992
Following passage of the above measures
Britain will cease to be a member of the
European Communities (including Euratom and the European Coal
& Steel Community) and of the European Union.
Pronouncements of the European Court of
Justice will have no effect in Britain.
The traditional blue British passport will
be restored to all British citizens, and the British Channel at
Ports of Entry to the United Kingdom will be reinstated.
Rights to vote in British elections currently
enjoyed by European Union nationals will be withdrawn.
Britain will withdraw permanently from the
European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) and declare that it will
never surrender the pound sterling to any single or common currency.
The British Government as a signatory, like
the EU, of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Treaty,
will negotiate a reciprocal free trade agreement with the EU broadly
on the terms currently applying between Switzerland and the EU.
Similar terms will be offered to the other remaining European
Free Trade Association members.
The United Kingdom will re-establish its
authority over its Continental Shelf fishing rights in the North
sea, the English Channel, and the Western Approaches in accord
with the most recent International Rule of the Sea agreements.
That is to say to 200 miles out or to the median line between
our shores and foreign shores where these are less than 400 miles
apart.
Parliament will reinstate the Merchant Shipping
Act 1988 as the Law of the Land.
Foreign vessels presently fishing in British
waters will be allowed to continue fishing subject to:
(a) an annual renewable licence being paid
to a new British Fishing Industries Service
(b) landing their catches in British ports
where processing facilities are available.
The licence money will be used to gradually
establish facilities to handle all catches from British waters
and to provide grants for the rebuilding of the British fishing
fleet destroyed by the EU fishing policy.
The levies on imports into Britain from
outside the EU (principally food) and the share of British VAT
revenues which together amount to about £5,000 Million (after
the Thatcher rebates) will no longer be paid to Brussels, and
at the same date receipts from the EU Agricultural, Social and
Regional funds (currently about £2,500 Million) will cease.
The current Euro-system of payment for agricultural
production and for agricultural set aside will be replaced by
a guaranteed price support system similar to that applying prior
to 1972. Guaranteed prices will be set to maintain farm incomes
on average at broadly recent levels, with some redistribution
from grain producers towards other farming. This will result in
an overall increase in saleable British farm products, including
milk, and the remoter farming districts will benefit. No longer
will some British food be produced just to be dumped.
The grants currently received from the EU
Social and Regional Funds will be maintained after Independence,
but they will be administered by the British government. Future
grants will on aggregate be at about current levels but will be
focussed much more specifically on expanding British industry
and industrially related employment.
Expanding British industry, specifically
manufacturing, must be at the heart of Britain's post-EU economic
strategy. Under the EU regime Britain does not pay its way in
the world on a trading basis. Too high a proportion of our income
is overseas investment income which represents past endeavours,
and does not generate employment.
Future endeavours must focus, not only on
Europe and North America, but on those rapidly expanding markets
of the world which have large and energetic populations. The biggest
of these markets are China, Taiwan, Japan, India, Indonesia, Korea,
Brazil and Mexico. Apart from the teaching of English, these markets
primarily require physical goods which is why Britain must expand
its manufacturing output.
The money (approximately £2,500 Million)
saved by not subsidising Continental and Southern Irish farmers
and manufacturers will be used to help expand our own industries.
An expansion of one-third in British manufacturing would create
about three quarters of a million jobs in industry itself and
about another million and a quarter jobs supplying essential services.
To all intents and purposes our unemployment problem would be
solved.
The application of EU directives and regulations
to Britain will end. No longer will British governments have to
take note of, or abide by, the pronouncements of foreign Courts.
Absurditiessuch as the colossal awards to servicewomen for having
babies will cease. British governments will be able to bring in
laws to support the family, equal opportunities, and the environment
in ways approved of by the British people.
Business fears of the huge costs of complying
with inappropriate EU environmental and health regulations will
be lifted. Butchers, bakers, horticulturalists, winegrowers, manufacturers
of vitamin supplements, jam makers, publishers, advertisers, businesses
large and small of every type will be freed from the threat of
suffocating regulations.
Those diplomats and officials who are now
chiefly employed heading off damaging Euroregulations and directives
will be freed to be gainfully employed in promoting British culture
and products throughout the world, especially in those areas like
the Pacific Rim where Britain's ties of language and history give
it a unique advantage over its European competitors.
South Africa's rejoining the Commonwealth
is a timely reminder that an Independent Britain will be able
to treat the Commonwealth as an asset, not a burdensome left-over
from the days of Empire. Both Old and New Commonwealth have been
disgracefully neglected by the obsession with Europe. Both offer
substantial opportunities for increased trade, and for the expression
of practical idealism by our young people. Britain's UN Security
Council seat will increasingly depend on support from the Commonwealth.
Fears that our Armed Forces will be sucked
into a European army, navy and airforce in association with other
countries' forces, which so often have proved unreliable allies,
will be abolished. Our Forces' loyalty to the Crown will never
be diluted by commitments to a foreign government. NATO will be
sustained by us - not undermined. Above all, we shall be free
again. The day we leave the European Union will be the end of
a nightmare. Our only thought will be to ask ourselves why we
stood it for so long."
