Peter Hain, the Minister for Europe in the Foreign Office, has told Michael
Fabricant in a startling series of Parliamentary Written Answers that the
Government has never calculated – nor has any future plans to calculate –
the amount by which Britain benefits, or suffers, from its membership of the
European Union. Michael asked this series of questions following the
publication of disturbing analyses by the United States Government, the
Institute of Directors, and others that far from creating jobs and enriching
Britain, EU Membership is costing billions of pounds each year and holding
back job creation. "I don’t know if these analyses are correct", says
Michael Fabricant "and now it appears the Government doesn’t know either!
But it is a scandal that not only has the Government not done these
calculations for themselves, they have no intention of ever doing them in
the future. How much money is being siphoned away from our region?

"We have no idea whether we are losing or benefiting from our membership of
the European Union and how much by. But if we are losing out, wouldn’t
the thousands of million pounds being transferred each year out of Britain
into Europe be better spent on improving local policing in Staffordshire and
the west midlands, equipping local hospitals – including saving hospital
facilities in Burntwood, and improving state pensions for Britain’s old
folks?

Michael adds "Every so often I check whether I can get better deal with my
high street bank by looking elsewhere and working out all the costs.
Businesses do the same with their suppliers and partners. Shouldn’t the
Government follow suit with our membership of the EU? With billions of
British taxpayers’ pounds at stake, they haven’t done so – nor do they
have any intention of doing so."