Come On Hannan - Get Your Bloody Pen Out!

Dan Hannan posts on his blog 10 reasons to leave the EU and states:

1. Since we joined the EEC in 1973, we have been in surplus with every continent in the world except Europe. Over those 27 years, we have run a trade deficit with the other member states that averages out at £30 million per day.

2. In 2010 our gross contribution to the EU budget will be £14 billion. To put this figure in context, all the reductions announced by George Osborne at the Conservative Party Conference would, collectively, save £7 billion a year across the whole of government spending.

3. On the European Commission’s own figures, the annual costs of EU regulation outweigh the advantages of the single market by €600 to €180 billion.

4. The Common Agricultural Policy costs every family £1200 a year in higher food bills.

5. Outside the Common Fisheries Policy, Britain could reassert control over its waters out to 200 miles or the median line, which would take in around 65 per cent of North Sea stocks.

6. Successive British governments have refused to say what proportion of domestic laws come from Brussels, but a thorough analysis by the German Federal Justice Ministry showed that 84 per cent of the legislation in that country came from the EU.

7. Outside the EU, Britain would be free to negotiate much more liberal trade agreements with third countries than is possible under the Common External Tariff.

8. The countries with the highest GDP per capita in Europe are Norway and Switzerland. Both export more, proportionately, to the EU, than Britain does.

9. Outside the EU, Britain could be a deregulated, competitive, offshore haven.

10. Oh, and we’d be a democracy again.

And still he won't sign the Albion Alliance Pledge! A commenter on his blog says: "Tell that idiot who leads your party. It’s our country, it is our money and it is our opinion it is time to leave. His approval is not required." Another comment is: "Absolutely correct, Mr. Hannan. If only there were a book outlining such a plan…............"

Why Hannan continues to remain a member of the Not-The-Conservative Party remains a mystery - perhaps he is waiting for his leader to shoot himself in the foot, which surely won't be long in coming to pass, if he has not already done that with his EU Policy announcement!