Andrea Leadsom

Lord Lawson is wrong that change in the EU is impossible

In its present form, the EU serves British interests very poorly. The time has come for us to finally take matters into our own hands.

But I don’t agree with the idea that we should simply withdraw now. That day may come, but surely not before we have given fundamental reform our best shot.  Everything we do has to be to promote the UK’s interests, and then the referendum will finally settle the matter.

Those who advocate withdrawal ignore the risk that the actual process of leaving, potentially taking years to negotiate out of the complex web of EU agreements and treaties, would have a damaging impact on our economy.  The ‘opportunity cost’ of leaving is also high – the UK is the biggest EU recipient of foreign direct investment – we are attractive to investors partly because we speak English and have good contract law, but above all because we are a foothold in a market of 300m people.

But fundamentally I don’t believe change in the EU is impossible. The eurozone crisis has made the status quo unsustainable for all EU members, whether ‘in’ or ‘out’. Fiscal integration and banking union are driving the eurozone countries closer together, and there needs to be a new relationship between them and the non-euro members. European leaders recognise this, as the recent agreement to introducing double majority voting in the context of European Banking Union clearly shows. This mechanism requires that a majority of euro members as well as a majority of non-euro members support a measure before it can be introduced. Politicians from around the EU have indicated a willingness to extend this mechanism across other areas in order to avoid non euro member states being disenfranchised in future by a eurozone caucus.

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