Patrick Minford: The UK is better off out!

by Raheem Kassam.
A professor of Applied Economics at Cardiff Business School has blown the lid open on the debate surrounding Britain’s membership of the European Union (EU) by revealing in testimony to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs select committee that the cost of living for those in the United Kingdom would drop by eight per cent “on day one” if Britain leaves the EU.
The session on the costs and benefits of the UK’s membership of the European Union took place on 3rd November during which several participants were asked to submit evidence on the subject. Prof. Patrick Minford of Cardiff Business School opened up a new front for anti-EU campaigners by revealing that Britain would actually be better off as a nation if we left the EU.
His economic modelling will come as a major blow to pro-EU campaigners who constantly warn that Britain’s economic security is threatened by a Brexit.
Prof. Minford, who spoke at length about global free trade, said: “What people are saying is that if we leave the EU it is disastrous, because we’ll lose leverage, blah blah blah. But the truth is we’ll move, if we’ve got any sense, to a liberalised economy, fundamentally under free trade.
“It isn’t in our interest not to have free trade,” he added, before skewering the pro-EU arguments.
“It pays us to be a global player under free trade. It pays us to sell our goods to other people in the world market and to take their goods at world prices. That will lower our cost of living.
“We have actually done a simulation of leaving the EU and the first thing that comes out is an eight per cent drop in the cost of living on day one. Because of the move from EU prices to world prices. Now that is really worth having.”
Prof. Minford, who is a world renowned economist, was even educated at the pro-EU London School of Economics, as well as Balliol College at Oxford University.
His comments have been warmly received from anti-EU campaigners.
Andy Wigmore of the Leave.EU campaign stated: “This is just another illustration of how big business the their lobbyists just don’t get. It blows the myth that we will be worse off out the EU, and it’s about time they started being honest about it.”