LONDON: Britain would get a big economic boost if it left the European Union, former finance minister Nigel Lawson said yesterday, fueling the debate about a referendum on British membership.
Writing in the Times newspaper, Lawson insisted that “the case for exit” was now clear and urged Britain to sever its 40-year association with Brussels.
“In my judgment the economic gains would substantially outweigh the costs,” wrote Lawson, who is the most senior member of Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party to call for Britain to leave the EU.
The Thatcher-era politician said the economic gains from a British exit “would substantially outweigh the costs” and argued that the EU had become a “bureaucratic monstrosity.”
He warned that the idea of “a federal European superstate” was “profoundly misguided” and “certainly not for us.”
Lawson, who voted to keep Britain in the bloc in a 1975 referendum, also claimed that an exit would save Britain’s valuable financial sector from a “frenzy of regulatory activism.”
Cameron has promised to hold a referendum on EU membership after the next general election in 2015, but is under pressure from members of his own party to bring it forward.
This pressure has increased following the resounding success of the euroskeptic and anti-immigration UK Independence Party (UKIP) in local elections last week. UKIP leader Nigel Farage has confirmed he will stand in the 2015 election as the party seeks to translate growing public support into seats in parliament at the expense of the three main political parties.
Cameron wants to renegotiate Britain’s membership of the EU before putting it to a vote, but Lawson said he was likely only to secure “inconsequential” concessions.
A spokesman for Cameron said the prime minister remains “confident” that his strategy “will deliver results.”
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, leader of the pro-EU Liberal Democrat partners in the ruling coalition, said leaving the bloc would put jobs in danger and make Britain more vulnerable to attack.
Former British finance minister calls for EU exit
