I'll present you with a new argument as well: US and other foreing investments in Britain. US companies prefer the British Isles for their European investments. (Actually, they simply prefer the UK. With Ireland subsidising market share by grossly undercutting British and European corporate tax rates, courtesy of and funded by the EU)
The UK attracts more US investment than the next four countries combined - France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

This system relies on an internal market. Without it, the US companies would have to divide their UK investments over all their different European markets. There would be no point in centrally conducting all European business from the UK if there was no unhampered flow of goods and capital in a common market. These unhampered flows rely on legal harmonisation, and would be greatly served further by a common currency.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 


The United Kingdom's economy is dependent on foreign trade. The government supports free and unrestricted trade and has championed international trade organizations such as the World Trade Organization and the EU. Because of its dependency on trade, the British have few restrictions on foreign trade and investment. Of the kingdom's 500 largest corporations, 60 are American. The United Kingdom's main trade partner is the EU. Some 58 percent of the kingdom's exports go to EU nations. Its main EU partners are Germany, which accounts for 12 percent of exports; France, with 12 percent; and the Netherlands with 8 percent. The United Kingdom's largest single market is the United States, which accounts for 13 percent of its exports. The United States also provides 14 percent of the kingdom's imports. As a combined group, the EU provides 53 percent of British imports. Germany provides 13 percent, France 9 percent, the Netherlands 7 percent, and Italy 5 percent. The United Kingdom has trade treaties with 90 different nations.

The strength of the British pound and the state of the economy has made the United Kingdom an attractive investment area for foreign investors. The kingdom is the world's second-largest destination for investment. About 30 percent of all foreign investment going into the EU is directed at the United Kingdom. The British also invest heavily in other nations. In 1998, the United Kingdom had US$120 billion invested abroad. The United States is the largest single investor in the United Kingdom and accounts for 44 percent of all foreign investment in the United Kingdom. In 1997, U.S. investment in the United Kingdom amounted to US$138.8 billion. The total U.S. investment in the United Kingdom is more than the total American investment in Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands combined. In overall terms, foreign investment accounted for 5 percent of GDP.

For several decades, the United Kingdom has had a trade deficit, as it has imported more goods and services than it has exported. In 1998, the trade deficit amounted to US$35 billion or 1.5 percent of GDP. However, because of the attractiveness of the kingdom to foreign investors, new investment capital continues to allow the British to fund this deficit because the new investment monies exceed the money the kingdom loses through its trade deficit.

Foreign companies provide 40 percent of British exports and they have a significant presence in the manufacturing sector.


It is a brilliant position for the UK and Ireland to be in. The two behemoths of the world economy, the US and the EU, conduct their business through the British Isles. Because both flows of goods and investments meet in Britain, services are located in London as well. And because the services infrastructure for global trade in London is virtually unmatched because of it, the Asians and Middle Easterners find their way to London too. This is how Britain makes its money, how the UK utilises its cultural and economic global position to its great advantage.

This is why there is so little desire amongst British political and financial elites to leave this system. They see no reason for the UK to voluntarily give up this gift from God, this central position in world trade, simply for tabloid outrage over mythical banana shape regulation, or for blathering buffoons who insist that it is 1933 and the EU nazi-Germany reincarnated.

London is to the Atlantic what Hong Kong is to Asia. Even the Chinese commie autocrats were not stupid enough to slaughter this goose with the golden eggs. After regaining sovereignity over Hong Kong, they took painstaking care not to interfere with its workings and position. Very unlike the UK, where the ill-adviced anti-EU sentiment forever demands Westminster pulls out from underneath Britain the very foundation on which the UK economy is build.



When the Empire was gone, Britain was bankrupt. It had lost its function as global centre. A poor, obsolete country, that is what Britain was before it joined. It is the EU that has given Britain a new chance at the position of pivot in global trade. De Gaulle understood this when he wanted the Britain to stay out - why give the British another shot? And, why bring in this Trojan Horse of Anglosaxon ultra-capitalism?

One of the great ironies of the EU is that precisely its engine, France-Germany, has the least to gain from it economically. France is in it for maintaining its position as great power, or, more positively, to fulfill its vocation of spreading democracy across the continent (or shaping Europe in her own image, for you cynics). Germany is in it for its history, to find its place within Europe at last. The UK is in it for the money. Conflicting interests - as it should be, because the interaction between conflict and competition on the one hand, and cooperation and exchange of ideas on the other, is what historically has been the strenght of Europe.

But, just why the popular image of the EU within the UK should be that the EU is but an elaborate scheme to release Britain of its wealth is beyond me. To use Napoleon's characterisation: a nation of shopkeepers, that's what it is. Can't see beyond the pennies in front of them.
A measly few hundred million pounds to pay for EU services, to maintain stability and democracy, and to development the market by stimulating periphral regions. That's all the EU costs Britain. In exchange, it finds itself at a phenomenally great position to amass fabulous wealth.