No UK trade benefit from EU membership - Civitas report - Polidicks

[QUOTE]EU membership has not given the UK any "insider advantages" in trade with other European countries, a report by social policy think tank Civitas says. It says trade with fellow EU nations makes up no more of the UK's trade with all top economies now than it did when it first joined the EEC in 1973. The benefit of collectively negotiated EU free trade deals is also questioned. The government says the EU share of UK trade has remained consistent because of a huge growth in other markets. It seems to contradict analysis by the Confederation of British Industry. The Civitas report - called Where's the Insider Advantage? - adds that EU membership does not appear to have benefitted UK service industries either, although it admits the data available on this is not so detailed. The report, by corporate market researcher Michael Burrage, says: "There is no evidence to suggest that the 'heft' or 'clout' of the EU has helped secure more FTAs than those that might have been secured by independent negotiations. "There were 25 EU FTAs in force in 2012 while the Swiss had independently negotiated 26, 13 of which came into force before those of the EU and three in the same year." It adds that there is no evidence that the quality of the EU's trade agreements is any higher. The report concludes: "The evidence presented contradicts again and again those who wish to claim that the UK has enjoyed insider advantages in the single market." Civitas says the UK's trade with other EU nations accounts for no more of its trade with all leading economies than it did on joining the European Economic Community in 1973.[/QUOTE] [IMG]http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/media/images/74647000/jpg/_74647944_74647939.jpg[/IMG] [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27284489"]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27284489[/URL] Read on. [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Rules: articles must not be more than 2 weeks old." - Orkel))[/highlight]

I'm quite positive the only countries that are benefited by the EU are the small ones, you only hear complaints from the big nations. Anyway, is this essentially saying outside of the EU we'd be no different economically?

This article is over a year old.

Haven't some companies eg ones from Japan said that they're very motivated to trade with the UK due to the EU? It's not just inter-European trade that's affected by the presence of Europe. Also, Jame's, without wishing to sound rude, it does appear that a vast majority of the stuff you post here is Eurosceptic in nature, including stuff which turned out to be untrue or exaggerated. Have you considered diversifying at least a little bit? [editline]14th July 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=Wiggles;48204246]This article is over a year old.[/QUOTE] This too.