Really good reasons to be in the EU #2

Being in the EU is good for UK jobs; look how it has saved the British Steel Industry - not!  Steel is now rapidly going the same route as our former fishing industry.

http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2015/10/18/save-our-steel/

The steel industry has made three requests of the government at its Steel Summit this week. The first is to get our energy prices down. Under EU rules this is difficult or illegal. However, Germany subsidises her heavy industry to combat this problem. All the time we remain in this job destroying body we may need to do the same. The subsidies are needed to offset the high costs of energy built into the energy policies. The longer term solution is to have our own cheaper energy policy based on more modern gas fired power stations and based on the extraction and creation of more of our own energy.

 

The second is business rate relief. This too would be a possibly legal way of assisting our industry at a time of cut throat competition from abroad threatening to destroy our domestic capacity. Taking a smaller percentage in tax now would be better than attempting to sustain a higher percentage of nothing once the plants have closed.

 

The third is anti dumping cases where foreign suppliers are dumping. Proving that is never easy, but as the custodians of our trade policy the EU could at least try to do that to help.

Outside the EU a British Government would be free to do whatever is needed to preserve strategic industries such as steel.  Inside the EU it is practically powerless.

Redwood is suggesting (1) we simply break the EU rules, (2) that we try to skirt them, and that (3) we beg.  There's a far simpler solution, and it has no downside whatsoever (unless you're a trough-guzzling politico)!