So, according to Nick Clegg, if
the UK were to ever consider leaving the European Union, some three million
jobs British would be at stake, around 10% of our total workforce, which should
make us all stop and think about what we'd wish for, right? I mean, ever since
he's quoted that suspiciously high figure, newspaper headlines and forums
around the country have been awash with posts from members of the
Euro-supporters community, berating those who would rather have us outside of
the community, categorically stating that three million British jobs aren't
just at risk, but will definitely disappear, if anyone dare suggest that we
leave the EU, never mind put it to any sort of publicly binding vote.
However, perhaps not
surprisingly, when one tries to investigate the accuracy of Mr Clegg's claims,
it is a very different story; and it quickly becomes apparent that the Deputy
Prime Minister has chosen to deliberately misrepresent an old set of
questionable statistics, ostensibly for his own political advantage. In other
words, Nick Clegg has taken an out-of-date set of employment figures, amended
the wording of the results; and falsely turned an estimate into a statement of
fact, turning a could be, into a probably is, into a definitely will be. Put
another way, it's little more than sheer political propaganda, orchestrated by
a man who has already proved himself to be completely devoid of principle; and
who will say or do anything in support of his beloved European Project, even if
that means misleading the British public.
The truth of the matter is that
there appears to be one single source for these fabled three million job losses
and that is a report issued by the Department of Business Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform (BERR), which estimated that some 3.2 million were linked DIRECTLY
or INDIRECTLY with British exports to the EU. As you will no
doubt notice, in the report there is a clear distinction being made between
jobs that were linked directly or indirectly to Britain's EU membership, with
no specific figures being offered to identify those that were entirely
dependent on our membership of the community. It is also worth pointing out
that these figures will undoubtedly include British jobs servicing non-EU
customers, as well as those overseas markets affected by the Rotterdam Effect,
where goods being delivered to non-EU customers are transported through
European ports and are therefore treated as European exports, as opposed to
anything else; and artificially inflating the amount of British exports being delivered
to the European Community.
The excellent "Full
Facts" organisation has also investigated several other sources to find
out the truthfulness of Mr Clegg's statement, including a report from 2000,
which was produced by South Bank University. However, "Full Facts"
found that the report in question was unreliable at best, given that the
authors had failed to include and calculate a number of significant factors
regarding Britain's overall trade figures.
Yet another report considered by
"Full Facts" was the one issued by the National Institute of Economic
and Social Research (NIESR), which found that an estimated 3.2 million British
jobs were directly associated with the UK's membership of the European Union.
However, as with the earlier South Bank and the later BERR reports, the authors
of the NIESR report were forced to admit that there was no clear evidence that
any or indeed all of these jobs would be lost in the event that Britain
withdrew from the European Community.
"Full Facts" also
looked at a report written by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills
(BIS) in 2006, to see if that had been the source for Mr Clegg's lost jobs
claims. After careful investigation by their reporters, it was found that that
the BIS had not actually issued a formal report as such and departmental
officials were unable to provide any statistical data to underpin their own
assertions. There was a suggestion however that the Lib Dem leadership might
have used figures released by the European Commission themselves, although that
body's response actually stated "the single market has contributed to
increased growth of at least 1.85% and the creation of 2.75 million jobs across
the EU since 1997", which is hardly a ringing endorsement of the
community, in terms of creating widespread employment!
At the end of their investigation
into the specific claim made by the Deputy Prime Minister with such certainty,
the "Full Facts" reporters were inclined to believe that the direct
job benefits for the UK, resulting from its membership of the European
Community, was marginal at best, equating to only around 1% of GDP; and
indicating that a UK withdrawal from the EU would be equally marginal, which is
not what the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, was telling the people of Britain
during his radio broadcast.
In reality, nobody truly knows
what the likely job outcome would be, in the event that the British people were
finally offered a national referendum on the European Question, although that
is highly unlikely to happen, given the current mindset of our two major
political parties. That said though, it goes without saying that IN or OUT of
Europe, Britain and its continental neighbours will continue to trade with one
another, now and in the future, although on what terms remains a mystery.
Consider this however. The top 20 importers into the UK, a market of some 60
million people, include the likes of Germany, who are top of the list of our
trading partners, as well as the Netherlands, Norway, France, Belgium, Italy,
Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Poland, and Denmark. The question is; would any of
these countries want to fall out with the UK, one of their most important
markets, just because we didn't want to belong to their club anymore? According
to the Euro-supporters club in Britain, the Europhiles like David Cameron, Nick
Clegg, Michael Heseltine, et al, if we were to choose to go our own way, these
historic trading partners and defence allies might choose to punish us by
imposing tariffs on our goods or services going into their community! Why? Why
would any modern state choose to initiate a series of trade wars that benefit
nobody; and certainly not their domestic manufacturers, who rely on their
markets in Britain to generate commercial profits, to pay their worker's wages
and buy their raw materials? To suggest that any such actions would be taken by
our near neighbours in order to punish us, is pure fantasy politics, dreamt up
by the likes of Nick Clegg, David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Ed Balls to scare us
all into a nervous compliance, whilst they busy themselves with building their
longed for United States of Europe.
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