UK Parliament: Economic impact of the UK’s EU membership inquiry launched

10 October 2015

The Treasury Committee launched an inquiry into the economic and financial costs and benefits of the UK’s membership of the EU.

Chair's comment

Commenting on the inquiry, Rt Hon Andrew Tyrie MP, Chairman of the Treasury Committee, said:

"This inquiry will be wide-ranging, dealing with all the economic and financial consequences of the UK’s EU membership, and the impact of departure.

The Committee’s job will be to attempt to marshal the evidence on this important question into a coherent form, enabling the electorate to make a more informed decision. It welcomes evidence from all those with views and expertise."

Scope of the inquiry

The Government is committed to holding an in-out referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU by the end of 2017. In response, the Treasury Committee launches a wide-ranging inquiry into the UK’s EU membership.

The Committee looks at a number of issues, this may include:

• the overall economic costs and benefits of membership; how the balance of costs and benefits might change following the UK Government’s negotiation efforts and in the light of the euro crisis. The sensitivity of any cost-benefit analysis to the terms on which the UK might leave the EU
• the terms on which the UK might leave the EU, and the likelihood of it securing continued access to EU goods, services and capital markets
• the wider impact of EU membership on the UK’s trade in services and the possible impact of ‘Brexit’ on services generally and financial services in particular
• the EU’s regulation of products and markets in implementing the Single Market; costs and gaps in the completion of the Single Market; compliance of EU regulations with subsidiarity and proportionality 
• the implications for EU market access of a divergence of the UK’s regulatory framework from that of the EU, were ‘Brexit’ to occur
• the economic effects of the free movement of people, particularly on the labour market and public finances, and the impact of alternative immigration and social policies
• the extent to which EU membership attracts and maintains inward investment to the UK, and how UK investments in EU and third countries might be affected by Brexit
• the effect of EU membership on the UK’s current account

Full press release

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