Former Labour Chancellor, Alistair Darling, has said that if the UK were to leave the EU, it would have a negative impact on the economy and be “disastrous” for living standards of working people.
At a dinner of the CBI, Mr Darling said in a speech: “Recent experience and historic evidence shows that when our economy suffers this kind of serious damage, insolvencies, repossessions and unemployment, particularly among young people, all soar.”
He goes on to say that the warnings from economists and economic institutions of the damage to such things as trade, investment and growth should “sound alarm bells” but said that the Leave campaign “always play the man not the ball.”
However, reports suggest that former Conservative party leader Lord Howard will explain that the lack of democracy in the EU was hurting business.
Adding: “If we Vote Leave we can take back the power to make out own trade agreements. At the moment, we have no trade deals with India, China, Brazil or even Australia and New Zealand. We have to wait for 27 other member states to agree before we can arrange a single trade deal.
“If we left the EU with no trade deal – inconceivable given the tariff free zone from Iceland to Turkey – our exports would face EU tariffs averaging just 2.4%.
“But our net contribution to the EU budget is equivalent to a 7% tariff. Paying 7% to avoid 2.4% is mis-selling on a scale that dwarfs the scandal of PPI.”
Debates are intensifying and we’ll see exactly how confident the UK is when the EU referendum takes place on 23 June.
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