ABSTRACT
In Chapter 1, we reviewed some of the ideas and literature which suggest that Britain’s location on the edge of mainland Europe puts her at a permanent disadvantage in economic terms, and that further integration within the EU should be resisted. Our exploration of these ideas has taken us into some quite disparate literature and data that reveal several conclusions that really can be accepted without much reasonable doubt. The dramatic reorientation of Britain’s trade towards Europe in the post-war period is quite clearly but part of a general trend for the industrialized nations to trade with each other rather than with the suppliers of primary produce. In Britain’s case, this reorientation has been substantially more dramatic than has been the experience of the other European countries, reflecting, at least in part, the rapid decline of Commonwealth links. Equally important, though, Britain’s trade realignment had begun before the EU was formed in 1958 and has continued steadily irrespective of whether she was or was not a member. And the fact that there has been a deterioration in the balance of visible trade with the EU matches the fact that the same adverse trend has been evident in trade with the rest of the world.
