|
|
Britain exports £637bn worth of goods and services to other EU member states and more than 50 countries with which the EU has free trade agreements (FTAs), according to analysis for Britain Stronger in Europe, the official campaign to keep Britain in the EU at the 23 June referendum. Switching to less preferential World Trade Organisation rules – the stopgap arrangement Brexit campaigners suggest would be in place while talks on new trade deals get under way – could jeopardise more than a third of that trade, or £250bn, as tariffs on British exports increased, the campaign claimed.
“Those wanting to leave the EU want to pull Britain out of the single market, which would mean introducing tariffs and barriers to our trade and putting billions of vital trade at risk,” Darling said. “There is no trading arrangement outside the EU that gives us the free trade we rely on today. Leaving would put jobs, low prices and financial security at risk.”
Looking at all the FTAs negotiated by the EU since 1974, the average time taken to reach a deal was six years, the campaign found, underlining the challenge facing Britain if it sought to put in place new deals after leaving the EU.
The deal with Albania – which has been cited by some in Vote Leave as an indication of the kind of relationship Britain might hope to achieve – took six years to negotiate; Israel’s took eight years and Macedonia’s almost five.