Latest Bruges Group Publication HOW MUCH DOES THE EU COST BRITAIN? The price of the combined direct and indirect expenses of EU membership in 2008 costs Britain £55.775 billion. Set out in the latest Bruges Group research by UKIP MEP Gerard Batten, the full financial burden to Britain has now been calculated. They show a dramatic increase in the costs of the EU - A price Britain cannot afford. The facts: By 2008 Britain will have made total contributions to the European Community (EC) Budget of £230.4 billion gross or almost £68.2 billion net. By the end of the current EC budget period Britain will have made estimated total contributions to the EC Budget of £315.4 billion gross and £101.4 billion net. By 2007 Britain had an accumulated trade deficit with the other EU member states of £383.7 billion. The Common Agricultural Policy costs Britain at least £16.8 billion per annum. The Common Fisheries Policy costs Britain at least £3.275 billion per annum. Over-regulation on business costs Britain at least £28 billion per annum. In 2008 membership of the European Union costs Britain almost £65.675 billion per annum gross or almost £55.775 billion per annum net. FRAUD: Due to the EU being riddled with corruption it is likely that the equivalent of Britain's entire net contribution to the EU is going into the pockets of fraudsters. THE EFFECTS OF FREEING BRITAIN FROM THE EU: A BOOST TO THE ECONOMY. As EU red tape is holding back the UK economy by £28 billion, 2% of UK GDP, it is clear that freeing Britain from EU control will get Britain out of recession and get British people back to work. COST FREE TAX CUTS. As politicians of the three main parties are struggling to explain how they will deliver the tax cuts that the British economy needs they have failed to realise that this money can be found if we stop paying the EU billions of pounds per year of taxpayers? money. The 2% boost to economic growth created by leaving the EU and slashing its excessive red tape would also increase tax revenue by £10.73 billion. Combine that with the direct savings to the exchequer and it will allow for a 6p in the pound cut in the basic rate of income tax. Gerard Batten, UKIP MEP,(Member of the European Parliament) author of the paper, challenges the Government;"As we enter what looks like the most serious economic crisis since 1929 membership of the European Union is a luxury that the British people simply cannot afford. It is clear that the EU is holding up economic recovery, to get Britain out of recession, we must get Britain out of the EU. If the British Government really believes that membership of the EU is in the interests of the British people they should commission an independent cost/benefit analysis to demonstrate the economic effects of membership. Robert Oulds, the Director of the Bruges Group, says, "There is a desperate need to reinvigorate the British economy by reducing the burden of taxation. Slowly, all three main political parties are beginning to realise this; but none have come up with a convincing plan as to how this can be done. "However, now that the costs of EU membership have been exposed, we now know that the tax cuts that are so desperately needed can partly be found by freeing us from EU control. It will boost tax revenue and free-up funds totalling £25.33 billion allowing for 6p in the pound to be cut from the basic rate of income tax." NOTES - GDP is £1,459 billion. Tax:GDP ratio is 36.8% (excluding Council Tax which is fixed). Therefore 2% more GDP would be approximately £10.73 billion more tax every year. Source: 2008 Budget Report £14.6 billion would enable the basic rate of income tax to be cut by 3.65 pence. It would alternatively enable the Personal Allowance to be increased by £2,703, so that you would earn £2,700 more than you currently do before paying tax - taking millions of lower paid workers out of charge. The combined benefit of £10.73 billion more tax revenues and saving the £14.6 billion paid to the EU would enable the basic rate of income tax to be cut by 6.23p, or increase the personal allowance by £4,685. Source for calculations: HMRC Ready Reckoner for 2007-08