#016 Five Advantages of Leaving the EU

That Are Rarely in the Debate But Should Be

1) Increased sovereignty (democracy closer to the grassroots)
People must be able to change the people holding power as easily & directly as possible, and as a result significantly change policy direction.

In the UK we have local elections (consisting of one or more tiers depending on the location - https://www.gov.uk/understand-how-your-council-works) and national elections to do this, however E.U. laws (directives & regulations) override national policy and are ‘supreme’ over national law.

At the supranational (European Union) level, it is much more difficult to influence and change the policies and the people making the laws, than it is at local, regional and national levels in the U.K., due to the way the European Union works (Commission + Council of Ministers + European Parliament), this is sometimes called the “democratic deficit”.

“The European Commission isn’t directly elected by citizens in the EU. But the President of the Commission needs to be approved by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who are elected by voters from member states.”
https://fullfact.org/election-2019/ask-fullfact-eu-commission-unelected/

By leaving the E.U. our elected representatives will have the opportunity to scrutinise, bring over, edit and potentially strengthen E.U. legislation and incorporate into UK law, where they see fit. This process has already begun with the E.U. Withdrawal Bill, as parliament (made up of directly elected representatives) amends and votes through the bill (directly) on our behalf. This is an important point as sovereignty was the most popular reason for people choosing to vote to leave the E.U. in 2016, it is an idea that is highly valued by many people across the country.

Also many existing European Union directives/regulations constrain national democratic power, in favour of failed neoliberalism and/or technocratic centrism, and there has been no realistic, achievable plan put forward as to how the UK could go about practically reforming the E.U. in this sense.

2) Freedom to change freedom of movement.
Leaving the E.U. allows Britain the opportunity to choose to either,
- Continue E.U. wide free movement, based upon close cultural and economic ties with E.U. member states,
- Extend free movement, to establish a fairer, international system, or
- End free movement, through leaving the single market, changing the nation’s migration policy to one which treats the entirety of the world, outside Britain, equitably.

3) Falling house prices
This would help people trying to buy a home in Britain, particularly in London, and “rent costs would face a downward pressure”
https://www.landandbuild.co.uk/rents-and-property-values-would-drop-after-brexit-say-landlords/.

4) Ability to decide where the money that previously went to the European Union (beyond what we get back, £8 – 10 billion) goes

5) We will be distancing ourselves from European Union decisions
We will no longer be complicit in the morally questionable decisions the E.U. organisations make, for instance the E.U. markedly failed to speak out against state violence & political imprisonment in Catalonia, despite claiming to stand for human rights and democracy, and it forced extreme austerity on Greece in 2015, via the European Central Bank. As a nation we can work with the European Union where we think they are getting it right and distance ourselves from them where we think they are getting it wrong.