In a debate at 1pm today (Wednesday) in the House of Commons which he initiated, Michael Fabricant said that according to a recent economic analysis, the European Union is now costing each British family a minimum of £1000 a year taking into account all the advantages of the single European market and inward investment. He said that we can no longer afford to pay for Europe and the position will get worse when Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic joins the EU. Again Britain will foot the bill. “The present position is unsustainable. The future, without renegotiation, is impossible……….. I believe there is a nexus of events and circumstances which we would be irresponsible and foolish to ignore. If the …… economists are right and there is no net benefit, indeed a cost, to our membership of the European Union, we must renegotiate our terms of membership. We owe that to our farmers, our fishermen, our pensioners, and the wealth creators in our society. Expansion in the European Union to absorb the eastern European states, which I personally welcome, will worsen the cost-benefit outcome for Britain unless we renegotiate our treaty obligations to the European Union. Such a renegotiation is, therefore, urgent and should include the re-patriation of the right for Britain to enter into its own individual bilateral treaties with other nations.” That would include our joining NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) – a bigger market than the European Union, with no membership fees – while remaining in a looser and freer EU. He reminded the Commons that Britain being the major contributor to the EU budget gives Britain great negotiating power. He told them that in international negotiations as in business: “He who pays the piper plays the tune”.

The full text of the speech can be found here.