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The third article in our Brexit book festival is from the former Director of the Better Off Out campaign, Rory Broomfield, reflecting on the Brexit opportunities covered in his 2014 book co-authored with Iain Murray, "Cutting the Gordion Knot"
The vote in the Brexit referendum on June 23 2016 proved to me that the British people wanted to take a different path. Free from the disastrous, growth-free regulatory and corporatist environment of the European Union; making our own decisions as a nation for the betterment of Britain and its people, not Brussels and its bureaucrats.
Prior to 2016, I had co-authored a book, Cutting the Gordian Knot with Iain Murray, Vice-President of the US think tank the Competitive Enterprise Institute. It was the runner up in the Institute of Economic Affairs’ Brexit Prize, ran in 2014, and highlighted how the UK government, if the UK were ever to start the process to leave the EU, could do it. The paper, written whilst I was Director of The Freedom Association, also outlined the opportunities that the UK could implement to become more prosperous,
Frankly, the book illustrated how the UK could become Better Off Out (the campaign group, run by The Freedom Association, that I was also director of). Ten years later and some of our recommendations, with the opportunities that were articulated in the book, came true. The UK enacted Article 50; rejected EFTA / EEA membership; left the Common Agricultural Policy; the Common Fisheries Policy; enacted free trade arrangements with other countries (and states within those countries); withdrew from the European Arrest Warrant and many other areas besides. But beyond the suggestions that were implemented, there are still policies in areas such as energy, immigration and extradition that can still - and should - be taken in order to enhance the UK’s competitiveness, prosperity and capacity for growth.
This includes the reduction of regulation.
In Cutting the Gordian Knot, Iain and I argued that a Royal Commission on Regulatory Reduction aimed at reducing the burden of EU-imposed regulations and “gold-plated” regulations inspired by the EU would be beneficial. In essence, we partially got this with the introduction of Retained EU Law (REUL), and subsequent reviews, under the previous government. The figure, as quoted by the Department of Trade, was initially 2,417 but subsequently rose to 6,925 individual pieces of law across 400 unique policy areas. Given that in 2005, over 20 years ago, the costs of the EU on the UK was estimated by Minford, Mahambare and Nowell to be between roughly 11% and 35% of GDP, even the lower estimate would be over £11,500 per household in the UK today. Indeed, in 2014, Iain Murray and I wrote that the burden of the EU on households - in 2014 amounting to the equivalent of approximately £5,000 per household, assuming the lower end of Minford et al's estimates - should be considered excessive.
Out of the total costs of the EU estimated above, the cost of regulations from the EU to the UK alone were considered by Minford et al to be between 6-25% of GDP. Of course, some REULs have been amended and it is possibly too early to assess the cost impact of these changes. However, using this analysis, if the cost of 2005 EU regulations were to be applied to the UK in 2025, at the lower estimate it could mean over £6,000 for every household in the UK.
However, in spite of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 passing in the last full year of the previous government, as of this year there are still nearly 5,000 REULs on the Statute Book (4,809, according to the Department of Business and Trade, to be precise). As such, roughly 37%, according to the DBT’s own figures, have been amended. Of course, some of this legislation might be needed; some might be vital. But it means that over 60% have not been reviewed or updated in any way - meaning that we are still living under the yoke of legislation made in the past by the backwards looking EU.
As such, there is still plenty of scope to reform the regulatory agenda in the UK, reforming legacy and possibly out of date legislation, to the benefit of the public and businesses. Effectively meaning that the UK has legislation made by it for now - not made elsewhere a generation ago.
But there are also plenty of other ways that UK governments - of any political stripe - could take advantage of the post Brexit freedom to make our own laws.
Other (more specific) policy areas that would also benefit from the UK government embracing post-Brexit freedoms, although some would also in part be included in some of the REULs mentioned above, include: agriculture, energy and the extradition. These can be explored in more detail in future posts and, much like our Iain and my paper in 2014, go someway to influence policy and legislative changes - to the benefit of the British people.
For now, I will leave you with this thought:
This week ten years ago, more people (17,410,742) voted to leave the EU than have voted for any single proposition in the UK’s political history. It was a historic moment. Despite there still being politicians (and campaign groups) that would still love the UK to rejoin the EU, or get caught in its regulatory sphere of influence, there are still tremendous opportunities for the UK and its people ahead.
To all those that doubt, I say the UK and its people can have an even more prosperous future. If only we choose to take the opportunities that are there to be grasped.
The updated 2016 edition of "Cutting the Gordion Knot" is available online and free to download - you can download it here
