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Introduction
Global Vision supports an enterprising, outward looking UK in an outward looking Europe, embracing the 21st Century opportunities to build on our unique heritage of trading relationships and cultural links around the world to both prosper as a nation and help achieve the global benefits of free trade.
We believe in:-
- Maintaining open, free trading relationships across new and old Europe
- Developing mutually beneficial business and trading relationships with high growth and developing economies - including India, China and North America
- Working in collaboration with other European Nations on agreed intergovernmental programmes for regional cooperation, including the environment, transport and security.
- Opting out of the legal and institutional structures of EU economic and political integration, avoiding the costs and regulatory burdens imposed by mandatory EU legislation.
This reflects our belief that:-
- The EU's costly and prescriptive regulations hamper British business, undermining its international competitiveness, and increasingly acting as a drag on British prosperity.
- The EU's protectionist policies, especially the Common Agricultural Policy, disadvantage developing countries.
- Britain's budgetary contributions to the EU could be better spent on cutting people's taxes or improving Britain's health, education and transport facilities.
Accordingly, we believe that:-
- There should be a fundamental renegotiation of the existing EU Treaties, as they apply to the UK, with the aspiration that our blueprint may serve as a model for many other European countries which also prefer to develop within a looser European club or European Commonwealth.
- An open, honest, informed, non-party political debate about Britain's global future in the 21st century is required. Global Vision aims to provide a forum for this debate.
Our vision is not just right for Britain's future, it is also:-
- Popular. In all our polls, when people are asked whether they wished to stay in the EU, withdraw completely, or preferred a ‘third way' - a relationship based on free trade and cooperation without political and economic integration - the third way is the clear option of choice.
- Politically feasible. The British Government, if so willed, could negotiate the terms of this new relationship at any time. Britain's bargaining position is strong - not least of all because it is a major market for EU exports. But Britain's bargaining power is especially strong when there are changes to the treaties because the British Government has the power of veto.
Our vision for Britain's future is right, popular and politically feasible.
Ruth Lea, Director
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