The E.U. and You.

[mk1]

"50% of British trade is with the EU". - NO IT IS NOT

Incorrect.

YES IT IS

Most of our trade is connected  to the EU countries..
Remember anything more than 50% is 'most'

[mk1]

There is a graphic here showing where all the UK exports went.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/feb/24/uk-trade-exports-imports#

My quick calculataion shows that Canada, India and Australia combined take less of our exports than Ireland or even Belgium!

[Vincent]

Know nowt about Lenin, goggled it for about 10mins and read some of his stuff but you can translate any of it any which way you want.

Hauge's audit will make interesting reading but no doubt what ever the result all the people who want us out will keep bleating on and on and on and on

Love John Lennon by the way

[Ryehill]

   Mk 1, I am sure that you will agree,  it is  disgracful that our exporters appear to be ignoring the huge potential of the emerging markets and seem to be concentrating on the stagnant market of the E.U. There is a big wide world out there and we should be involved with it, not inwardly looking .
   Vincent if there is ever a referendum on our membership of the E.U. I, for one, would accept the verdict of the people. If the electorate voted to stay in the E.U. I would not ask for another referendum, unlike the E.U. which when the people give an answer which they don't like then they impose a second referendum on the country concerned. Eg Ireland, France ,Holland and Denmark have all had to have re-runs of referendum which initially gave the E.U. an answer which it did not want.

[Vincent]

Just to remind people what and why Ireland had a second run at it: -

Only one member state, the Ireland, intended to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon through a referendum.
  Ireland - 53.2% against (12 June 2008)

Since the vote by the Republic of Ireland on the Lisbon Treaty, the European Commission has stated that the Treaty would not force Ireland to change its view on issues such as abortion. The Irish voted again on the Lisbon Treaty on 2 October 2009. The vote was 67.1% in favour of the treaty.
  Ireland - 67.1% in favour (2 October 2009)

Some have criticised the decision to hold a second Irish vote for a couple of reasons. Main opposition in the European Union comes from the United Kingdom Independence Party who argue the Irish public were ignored over their original vote and were being forced to vote again. UKIP also states that the concessions made to Ireland in relation to the Lisbon Treaty "are not worth the paper they are on and have no legal standing".

Others have argued that as Ireland has been given a guarantee that certain issues such as abortion will not be affected by the Treaty of Lisbon, the Irish people should vote again on the Lisbon Treaty with the concessions in mind, and that, given that every other Member State had approved the treaty, it was not unreasonable to ask the single country that rejected it to reconsider, especially in light of the guarantees offered.

[Ryehill]

             Interesting facts and figures, Perseus, but what you did not not mention was that U.K.I.P. received almost 1 million votes in the G.E. of 2010 ,a substantial increase on the 2005 result. In addition Conservative Party analysts concluded that U.K.I.P. cost the Conservatives about 20 seats in the H. of C. At the next G.E. U.K.I.P.'s vote is likely to improve further. That is why we are hearing eurosceptic noises from the Conservatives, because U.K.I.P. have got them worried. 
            The demand for a referendum is not just coming from U.K.I.P. An online petition received the required 100k signatures and this triggered the debate in the H. of C.  You may not want our relationship with the E.U. to be examined but there is a growing groundswell of opinion that does.
            On the subject of a cost analysis of our membership of the E.U. several organisations have done such a study, Taxpayers Alliance , Labour Euro-safeguards committeee, Open Europe etc. I am sure that you are capable of looking up their conclusions .

[popgoestheweasal.]

So if we came out of the EU does this mean BMW and Mercedes of Germany would boycott us.   

[Ryehill]

               Last year Britain had a £52 billion trade deficit with the rest of the E.U.

[Ryehill]

          Perseus I think that my patience with you is about exhausted. Are playing the Devil's Advocate or are you just plain stupid? You stifle proper debate with inane comments. You throw allegations out like confetti at a wedding. Either debate sensibly or don't bother at all. Britain's membership of the E.U. is too serious a subject to be trivialised and needs to be debated until everyone has a clear picture of the pros and cons of membership. Then and only then can we make an informed choice when the referendum eventually takes place.

[Ryehill]

        Perseus ,because of your sheer dislike of U.K.I.P. you are missing the big picture. U.K.I.P. is just one of a number of organisations working  towards ,either,  withdrawal from the E.U. or a referendum on whether or not we should leave the E.U.
         Take ,for example, the People's Pledge organisation. They are a cross party group which organised a referendum in Thurrock on whether Britain should leave the E.U. The turnout was 31%, about the same as the turnout at the last European Parliament elections. The result was a staggering 90% in favour of withdrawal. Now tell me that there is no call for a referendum. The next referendum takes place in Cheadle on August 5th. If a similar result is achieved the government will be under severe pressure to hold a national referendum.

[popgoestheweasal.]

a referendum would sort it but the pro Europe team are affraid of that.

[Ryehill]

   Perseus you are right, the question asked in the  Thurrock referendum was whether or not we should have a referendum. It was a genuine mistake on my part and I was not attempting to mislead you. Nevertheless the result was decisive and if replicated over the country would be an unstoppable call for a referendum on our membership of the E.U.  You remind me of King Canute except it is the tide of public opinion that you are unable to stop.

[mk1]

   You remind me of King Canute except it is the tide of public opinion that you are unable to stop.

Cnut was trying to show his underlings the limit of his powers.
Popular culture has turned this around and made it (wrongly) an example of his stupidity.

[Micksmate]

To all the EU supporters, simple question, simple answer please:  "why have successive governments promised a referendum on our staying in the EU before reneging on their election promises"  No quoting, googling or anything else, just a simple answer.

[mk1]

To all the EU supporters, simple question, simple answer please:  "why have successive governments promised a referendum on our staying in the EU before reneging on their election promises"  No quoting, googling or anything else, just a simple answer.

First list the exact promises and where we can check them ............