“Most of our laws come from Brussels”: Really?
Not true. The independent House of Commons library found that the real proportion is just 13.2% of our laws.
Mythbusters
If you were told that 80% of our laws were imposed upon us by an unelected foreign bureaucracy, you would of course consider it to be a democratic outrage. If, on top of that, you heard that it cost us millions of pounds per day for the privilege, you would probably be apoplectic. Yet this is exactly what certain politicians and several newspapers repeat again and again to the British people. And it is a load of nonsense.
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“European laws are made by unelected bureaucrats”: Really?
Not true. All proposals for new EU laws are debated, amended and passed (or rejected) by elected national governments and directly-elected MEPs.
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“The EU forces its will on member countries”: Really?
Not true. We don’t decide anything at EU level unless all countries have agreed to do so — and even then, each piece of legislation is agreed by national governments.
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“Europe is run by a sprawling bureaucracy”: Really?
The European Commission administration is only a little larger than a single city council in the UK.
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“EU membership costs us a fortune”: Really?
Not true. The UK’s contribution is actually much lower than other similar-sized economies such as Germany and France, partly because we get a special rebate.
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“The EU accounts have never been signed off”: Really?
Not true. There is a persistent myth that the European Court of Auditors has refused to sign off the EU’s accounts, but this is false.
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“British businesses are clamouring for us to leave the EU”: Really?
Not true. You wouldn’t believe it from the eurosceptic rhetoric, but in fact, both British businesses and inward investors have been emphatic that Britain must stay in!
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“Our most important markets are China and the US, not the EU”: Really?
Not true. The EU is the world’s biggest single market, and it’s far and away our biggest trading partner.
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“Britons lose out because of EU migration”: Really?
Not true. In fact, there are almost as many Brits living elsewhere in the EU as other EU nationals in Britain.
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“The European Parliament is a rubber-stamp parliament”: Really?
Not true. In fact, the European Parliament is much better than national parliaments at saying ‘no’ to controversial proposals.
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“British businesses are drowning in EU red tape”: Really?
Not true. When we get it right, EU legislation is an exercise in cutting red tape!
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“EU health tourism costs the NHS billions”: Really?
In fact, official figures from the Department of Health show that the opposite is true!
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“The European Court of Human Rights is forcing us to…”: Really?
The European Court of Human Rights has nothing to do with the EU.
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“We thought we were only joining a free trade zone”: Really?
Not true. We actually left a free trade zone, EFTA, to join the EEC specifically because we felt free trade was not enough.
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“Switzerland and Norway survive perfectly well outside the EU”
Be careful what you wish for!
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“The British are simply different”
Yes, and so is every other country! All have their different languages, cultures, histories and laws.
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“Renationalisation is impossible under EU rules”: Really?
This claim has been made about several different public services in the UK, but it is not true.
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“If we quit the EU, we could stay in the single market”
The Leave campaign claims that we could get better trade deals if we negotiated them separately as Britain. But it’s not as easy as that.
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“If we quit the EU, we could go global”: Really?
The Leave campaign claims that we could get better trade deals if we negotiated them separately as Britain. But it’s not as easy as that.
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“Unelected judges are telling us what to do”: Really?
Not true. The court doesn’t make political decisions, but it does sometimes have to remind politicians of what they have agreed!
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“The EU imposed austerity on Greece”: Really?
Anyone who has actually looked into the figures and the details of this saga will know that it isn’t so simple.
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“We can’t control our borders”: Really?
Not true. We retain full border controls as an EU member — along with Ireland, we are outside the borderless Schengen area.
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“The EU is shoving an undemocratic trade deal down our throats”: Really?
Not true. Indeed, we are likely to win this battle precisely because it’s being fought at EU level.
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“If we left the EU, other countries would be desperate for a deal”: Really?
Not true. It is the relative importance of trade to each side, not the absolute value of that trade, that matters.
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“Britain is regularly outvoted by other countries”: Really?
The figures show this isn’t anywhere near true. In fact, we almost always win votes through finding common ground with other countries.
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“The EU harms the NHS”: Really?
This is absolute nonsense. How we organise our health service, and how we pay for it, is a matter for our own government.
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“The EU has ignored referendum results” Really?
This is an attempt to conjure up a conspiracy in an area where many people aren’t familiar with the details.