The European Union (EU) is a new nation, emerging through stealth, from the European Economic Community (EEC).

The dream versus reality. Emotionally, as an idea, the EU sounds good. Due to this fact arguments in its favour are easy to put quickly. For example, the 'working together for a common future' type of message sounds very snappy and positive. On the opposing side the arguments are mostly logical and of the 'well it calls itself a parliament but it isn't really a parliament because the procedures it uses mean that nobody needs to take any notice of it and …' variety which are difficult to get across quickly. However, if a full debate can be entered into, the logic of the arguments against the EU is overwhelming.

A new Nationalism. Nationalists should dislike the concept of the EU because the EU is going to be a new nation that competes with their own. Internationalists should dislike it because it is the formation of a new nation at a time when national boundaries are breaking down due to global communications, trade and travel. The EU is an artificial nation forged out of disparate cultures and economies. The EU is being constructed (certainly in the UK) by stealth. Publicity concerning this loss of national sovereignty tends to work against the EU.

An 'eastern block' style of government. A good word picture of the European Union is conveyed by the name 'EuroSlavia'. This associates the EU with the former state of Yugoslavia, with all its complex connotations. An artificial nation formed from disparate cultures with tragic long-term consequences. A bureaucratic, un-democratic, system of government. An economically depressed and grim place.

Bureaucracy versus democracy. A major feature of the EU is that it attempts to regulate everything. The tide of red tape that has engulfed Europe is well documented (and more detail appears later in this breakdown). This in itself then undermines further the democratic system in the UK in two main ways.

Firstly the huge number of 'Directives' produced by the EU that must then be passed into UK law has resulted in the use of what are called 'statutory instruments'. These enable ministers to draft and enact legislation without it going through the House of Commons - a dangerously undemocratic 'rule by decree'.

Secondly, to pay for these rules and to ensure that businesses comply with them, a new type of government agency has been set up. These agencies are self-funding because they pass the charges for administering the rules on to the businesses directly. In the 1960's and 1970's and economics lecturer, called Northcote Parkinson presented a theory now called 'Parkinson's Law' about how government was self perpetuating and self enlarging. This theory was summed up by the famous phrase "Work expands to fill the time available". This has now taken on a truly frightening new dimension now that the government departments can effectively raise their own taxes to fund their own expansion. . One example of such an agency is the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). Among other tasks this agency has the job of regulating the UK's fishing industry. The MCA is proposing to impose a regime of safety checks on every fishing boat and the charges for the visits made by the MCA 'inspectors' will be passed on to the fishermen. These charges will be about £60 per hour including travelling time. £60 being the amount that most fishermen make in a day this will be another major cost to them after all the other extra burdens that Fish Quotas etc. have already added. Another example of this method of raising money by charging for inspections is the Ministry of Agriculture Food and Fisheries Vets, who inspect slaughter houses and charge a similar amount for the process.

Lies, Dam Lies and Statistics. A statistic often quoted by exponents of the EU is that 'the UK does more trade with the EU than the rest of the world'. As with many statistics this figure is not what it seems. The first thing is that 80% of the UK's economic activity is internal – only 20% deals with exports and imports. Secondly the figure quoted above is for 'visible' trade (manufactured goods etc.) - it ignores 'invisible' trade (City of London financial services etc.). If you add in the invisible trade (and there is no reason not to unless you are trying to fix the result) then 20% of overseas trade breaks down into 9% with the EU and 11% with the rest of the world.

The story does not end there however. It transpires that this 9% includes container trade going to the port of Rotterdam and most of this trade is on route on out of the EU to the rest of the world. The result is that the actual figure for the UK's trade with the EU is about 6.5%. To complete the picture couple this with the fact that the UK has accumulated a £150 billion trade deficit with the EU over the last ten years (a fact that our politicians have only been able to ignore because we have had a similar trade surplus with the rest of the world).

The upshot of this is that the UK (a) pays £9 billion a year for membership of the EU (enough to build 90 new hospitals each year), (b) has had its economy hamstrung by EU red-tape and (c) is now handing over its sovereignty in the name of political union - all for the sake of 6.5% of its economic activity which is completely unprofitable! This also explains why the UK would not suffer economically if it pulled out of the EU - the EU counties would lose out if they stopped trading with us as they profit more from the trade than we do.