Looking at trade figures since 1946 the growth in our trade had a significant boost on joining the EEC and following the introduction of the single market, the increase is said to be about 14%.

If and that's a big IF, we leave the EU and let's say lose 10% of our trade that would be around £25bn compared to the £18.2bn that was claimed on the side of that bus that was driven off the edge of a cliff.

Both Leave & Remain campaigners appear to agree taking into account what the UK receives back from the EU the UK's net contribution is around £8bn, for an additional £25bn worth of trade.

As a consequent of leaving the EU our trade would have to drop by less than 3% for the UK to be in theory better off. I say in theory because there are other hidden financial benefits of being a member of the EU, when they are taken into account I calculate our net contribution to the EU as being £4bn-£5bn.

For example the EU picks up the tab for trade negotiations, compliency, enforcement etc. Those costs will come back to the UK in bucket loads.

We benefit from certain EU agencies being based in the UK. One such agency is based in London and employs hundreds of people with reasonably well paid jobs housed in rented office space.

This particular agency has a requirement to be close to an airport, transport links and hotels capable of accommodating 350 delegates attending conferences. That's money flowing into the shops, restaurants, hotels, providing jobs and money for the exchequer.

And it's not just EU staff, countries have permanent offices here to keep in touch with the particular EU agency.

Declining is declining. No dressing it up. And when you add the growth (decline) figures of the eurozone in particular over the last 10 years, growth is flat at best. Nothing to celebrate.

Have to laugh at this "it's all because we are in the EU" stuff.
So why are many countries also in the EU not doing so well?
Surely those who embrace all its "joys" from Schengen to the Euro, infinity and beyond, should be doing better than a Grinch member taking the pee?

In how many of the last 10 years has he EU been in growth?

Plenty of countries within the EU are doing well, countries like the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands and Germany. Others are stuggling, particularly in southern Europe but it would be a huge leap to say it's because they are members of the EU. The UK itself has very prosperous regions and others that are lagging well behind.

One interesting aspect btw that the nations doing well all have high levels of immigration and are benefitting from EU freedom of movement.

So if Greece didn't join the EU, would they be better off?

The general consensus on Greece is that it was a basket case economy riddled with corruption and inefficency and it should never have been admitted to the Eurozone. You would imagine the place would be in rag order now, even outside the EU : other countries in southern Europe outside the EU like Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Macedonia were hit very badly by the global financial crash and are still struggling.

Clearly some of us did, or knew it anyway, if you read the posts before yours. Claiming that we haven't suffered economically from Brexit two years before we Brexit is so obviously stupid that it shouldn't have needed pointing out (but sadly, it did). The relative decline will of course be a gradual process with a substantial lag.

Of course the economy is temporarily looking ok, but the iceberg of Brexit looms ever closer. When it does we'll all know it. Why didn't you quote the rest of the IMF report warning of negative Brexit consequences to come. Unwilling to face reality, perhaps?

You are making the point that it should not have been in the EU, however that is not the reality of the situation. They are members and it is the EU to blame for letting them in. It is also the EU's fault for continually bailing them out and using austerity measures, that is tanking their economy.

The EU needed a better repayment plan, to ensure that businesses in the Greek economy can keep running, but due to the high taxation needed for austerity, the businesses couldn't survive. Without businesses keeping their doors open, there was no tax to be had. This in turn meant the Greeks kept on missing their repayment targets, and more austerity measures were used to try to rake in the money for the repayment. Tell me that isn't the fault of the EU? Are the EU going to write off the debt? It's a mess that the EU made.

What iceberg is that? Is that the same IMF that told us life as we know it would end if we even contemplated leaving?

Misleading thread.... replacing "G7" with "Major"

G7 = USA, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan

Article is also 2 months old....

And the opening paragraphs sound more like the same old doom and gloom of so-called project fear than anything to be getting happy or optimistic about....



Apparently, India (not one of the G7) is currently the fastest growing major economy
http://money.cnn.com/2016/08/31/news...narendra-modi/

As long as the Tories keep pumping up the overinflated housing market, the economy will continue to 'grow fast'.

No, I said that Greece shouldn't have been admitted to the Eurozone ie. the Euro currency. For sure, the situation with Greece was mishandled and a lot of mistakes were made but these things happen : it would be like talking about an economic blackspot region of Britain and holding it up as proof that the entire UK was a failed entity. In a 28 country union, you're always going to have success stories and others of mistakes and failed policies, particularly during a major financial crisis.

The only part of being in the EU that is affecting GDP growth is immigration.

More people =more consumption=higher GDP.

All it does is highlight how useless GDP is as a measure of a countries performance.

We still have massive budget and trade deficits, it has not helped industrial output, it can only be fixed once we exit the EU.

And me, where did I say "only"?

We're not out but it is doing worse since your vote.

Like the US, you mean?

No we're not. To answer your previous point, you were not acknowledging that the rest of the world that unlike to EU is growing includes industrialized countries.

Yes we are; pound down, inflation up, interest rates halved, billions pumped into private firms to boost growth, growth down anyway.

Where?

If you can't argue the point I made stop making ones up,

Growth isn't down. None of the things you mention are detrimental to the economy.

Every post that you and others responded to ignores the fact that other blocks contain industrialized countries, which unlike the EU are growing.

The thread title is "britain is fastest growing major economy". So apart from pointing out how the figures of G7, EU and UK all mirror each other the overriding point is if we had triggered A50 this year we would absolutely not be the fastest growing major economy right now. So i'm not trying to give EU credit for this, just the fact leaving will cause a dip in economy. Making our Budget and Trade differences even worse for the first few years. Our Budget differences are already affected lots just by not hitting the 2%(?) initial projections of 2017 growth - not that i'm blaming Brexit on that..... because Brexit has not even begun.

The Irish say hello ...
Ireland set to be Europe's fastest-growing economy in 2016 after weathering initial Brexit fallout

Unemployment in Ireland is? How much of the loss since 2008 have you made up?

Er, it's down from 0.7% to 0.5%.

Rising inflation not detrimental tot he economy?

Er, no, it implicitly accepts it by saying "includes developing economies" instead of "comprises developing economies".

You are just continually illustrating why referenda are a bad idea.