Is the City better off inside or outside the EU? That’s the question debated by two notable politicians at the SWIFT Business Forum today.
Arguing the ‘remain’ corner was Sir Vince Cable, former secretary of state for Business Innovation and Skills, while delivering blows on behalf of the ‘leave’ campaign was John Redwood, Conservative member for Wokingham and chairman of the Conservative Parliamentary Economic Affairs Committee.
Moderator Natasha de Teràn, head of corporate affairs at SWIFT, introduced the duo, with Cable taking to the stage first to deliver his argument.
Cable claimed leaving the EU would mark a radical departure that would cause “considerable disruption”, forcing the nation into the unknown. He argued there would be both short-term and irrecoverable longer-term costs to an exit from the European Union.
He said that, while the UK has a close and successful relationship with other markets, it became painfully apparent to him on overseas visits, for example to China, that the UK is very far behind behind other markets, and that includes those within the EU, such as Germany. Therefore, he suggested, it would be economically very dangerous to hazard going it alone.
What the nation should be doing, he said, is staying in the EU and focusing on improving areas of weakness and removing barriers to success.
“The factors which prohibit us primarily, are low productivity, poor training, lack of attention to innovation, lack of access to business finance, and those are the domestic issues we need to focus on,” he said.
“In a world which is massively uncertain … why take the additional leap into the unknown?” Cable concluded.
Civil War
Next up was Redwood, who once described the Brexit debate as “the English Civil War without the muskets”. In today’s session he expressed his concerns that the UK would be on a path to destruction if it remained in the European Union.
“I do really believe that the EU is in deep crisis,” he said, explaining this is largely because of the euro – a currency experiment that “simply isn’t working”.
He claimed that, for economies to operate successfully, the central bank and central government have to work together, but those in the EU are being prevented from achieving this. Citizens can choose their governments, ousting those who have policies that don’t please or appease the masses, but they have no say over who makes the rules and holds the purse strings in Brussels.
Redwood went on to say he believes it’s time for the UK to take its own seat at global decision-making tables, rather than being represented by those who don’t necessarily have the nation’s best interests at heart.
.@johnredwood argues in favour of leaving the EU as the #Brexit debate gets underway @swiftcommunity #BFLondon pic.twitter.com/QR80Vj87Nm
— Tech City News (@TechCityNews) April 20, 2016
“We’ll have our own seat at the table,” he said, “we will be leapfrogging the mezzanine level, and will be there at the top table.”
Redwood said he was most excited about the internal improvement that would take place following a Brexit, with the £10,000bn the nation sends to Brussels and doesn’t get back being spent at home, instead. This would enable the abolition of the likes of the ‘Tampon Tax’, the ‘Green Tax’, plus increased spending and investment in the NHS and the reduction of disability cuts.
“We could actually banish austerity,” he argued, adding that the nation would have “this huge amount of money we could spend on our priorities”.
“Let Britain be a great global power,” he concluded.
Outside support
Questions from de Teràn and the audience ensued, with an audience member asking Redwood what he thought about high-profile figures such as resident Obama and the Pope supporting the ‘In’ campaign. Redwood quipped that Obama is extremely proud of the way the US threw off control of the British Empire “and rightly so”, he said, adding that the US seems to have done pretty well since making that bold move.
Cable argued that, inevitably, the US has an enormous interest in preventing fragmentation of the EU, and said it rightly fears that “once you start opening up the Pandora’s Box”, the unity the Americans have helped to create could fall apart, with catastrophic results.
Cable also took the opportunity to throw a few digs Redwood’s way.
“In his speech, John sounded a bit like Jeremy Corbyn on steroids,” he said, adding that the idea there would be some “giant windfall of gold” upon leaving the EU was ludicrous.
Rounding off the session, audience members were asked to vote on whether they thought the City would be better off in or out of the EU. The results? 68% voted ‘in’, 32% voted ‘out’.