Exposing the Europhiliac lies, yet again.

The new head of the CBI (Confederation for British Industry) has popped up in the media blethering on about why we need to stay in the EU otherwise a catastrophe of biblical proportions will destroy what’s left of the British economy. You remember the CBI? They were the bunch who told us that we’d be left behind if we didn’t join the euro. As Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy implode, the CBI don’t mention joining the euro much nowadays.

So, what are the Europhiliacs’ main lies to justify remaining in the corrupt, wasteful, bureaucratic, undemocratic �EU?

1. About 3.5 million jobs will be lost if we leave (this lie�is a Nick Clegg favourite):

But if we left, we would continue to trade with Europe in a similar way to Norway, Switzerland, Mexico and China. Moreover, as the EU sells more to us than we sell to them, then many more jobs would be lost in the EU if it tried imposing tariff barriers on the UK

2. Britain’s net contribution is only �5bn�to �6bn a year:

The Europhiliacs usually use out-of-date figures. Since Mr Blair gave away a large chunk of our rebate, the actual net contribution is�at least��10bn a year and�our gross contribution is��19bn a year and increasing every year.

3. The EU is a key market for British exports:

This is still true. But the EU is�in decline and diminishing as a % of world trade. In 1991, the EU accounted for about 30% of� world trade, now it’s around 20% and forecast to fall further. This�has led to�our sales�to the EU�falling every year, while the amount we sell to non-EU countries is increasing (see chart)

4. Britain will lose its car manufacturing, as�many producers will leave the country:

But 70% of UK car production is for domestic and global non-EU consumption, only 30% goes to the EU.

Moreover, Germany exports 10% of all its car production to Britain -�half a million cars a year more than we export to Germany. So Germany would never accept a 10% tariff on its UK exports if we exited.�Anyway, the EU car market is declining with global car markets the place to be.

5. We will lose trade if we exit:

But we have a �70bn annual trade deficit with the EU. The EU sells much more to us than we sell to them. They are not going to throw away the huge UK market just to satisfy the spite of a few Brussels bureaucrats.

6. We need to be in the EU to influence decision-making:

With most EU decisions based on “qualified majority voting”, we have little to no influence. For a start, the 17 Eurozone members are always able to out-vote the 11 non-members. Moreover, the number of countries that get more from the EU than they put in – the so-called “Friends of Cohesion” – will always vote for more spending as the more the EU spends (and wastes), the more money they get.

8. They�used to claim that the EU had been an economic success:

We don’t hear this lie so much nowadays. When they do talk up the EU, they tend to ignore the EU’s�massive unemployment – around half of all young people in the Club Med countries.�They don’t mention�that Eurozone growth over 2012 to 2019 will be 8% v 33% global growth. And they like to gloss over the loss of our fishing grounds, the consequences of open borders�on uncontrolled immigration and the fact that we need to go grovelling to Brussels to get permission for most of our laws.