This year Germany has earned £100 billion more from the EU than the UK

Latest trade figures show the UK benefits least from the Single Market

Chart © Brexit Facts4EU.Org / Pic credit: EU Commission

The UK is 28th out of 28 when it comes to selling goods within the EU’s Single Market

On Friday the EU’s official statistics agency released its figures for international trade covering the first nine months of this year, 2019. As these went unreported by the BBC, we have analysed the information and summarised it for readers.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

The UK is 28th out of 28 when it comes to benefiting from trading goods within the EU
So far this year the UK has lost £70 BILLION from trading with the EU27
Germany has made £30 BILLION - a net gain over the UK of £100 BILLION
In the 9 months to Sep 2019, Germany is £100 BILLION better off than the UK
The UK had the worst DEFICIT in goods trade with the EU out of all EU28 countries

The above chart uses the latest official data from the EU, and as such is incontrovertible.
For simplicity we have used an average exchange rate of €1 = £1.15. In Euros the UK’s trade imbalance was MINUS €81.5bn.

Observations

Seriously, where is the economic benefit of the EU’s Single Market?

For years Brexit Facts4EU.Org has been publishing the truth about the UK’s trade with the EU27, based on official EU figures. In report after report we have shown why the EU27 refer to the United Kingdom as “Treasure Island”.

Despite this, time and again Remainer politicians have stood up in the House of Commons and talked of all the benefits of Single Market membership. Not once have they quoted any actual facts.

Sadly, we never hear pro-Brexit MPs rebutting the nonsense with the real figures. The Office of National Statistics talks of the difference between imports and exports as being what the country “earns”. When it comes to the goods trade with the EU27 the UK doesn’t earn, it loses. In the first nine months of this year the UK lost £70 billion.

Pro-Brexit politicians could also mention that since the EU Referendum, the EU27 have sold over £¼ TRILLION more goods to the UK than we have sold to them. Over 160 countries trade with the EU - and so can the UK - without membership of the Single Market.

What about services?

It is well-known that the UK is a services-based economy, with only around 20% attributable to the trade in goods.

Once again we must remind Remainer politicians that the Single Market doesn’t work for services – by the admission of the EU Commission itself.

“The Single Market – this jewel that is all too often taken for granted – does not function properly for services”

- Elżbieta Bieńkowska, EU Commissioner for the Single Market, 2017

The general election and the Single Market

In this election campaign when Remainer politicians talk of “protecting jobs” by remaining in the Single Market, we hope that journalists and pro-Brexit politicians will ask them to justify their claims with actual facts.

Now THAT should be interesting

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[ Sources: Official EU statistics from the EU Commission ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, 17 Nov 2019

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Reader Comments 8

1. Concerned , Sunday, November 17, 2019, 08:27:

Your statistics prove what I have been thinking for a long time and I am very grateful for all your hard work, in finding, checking and publishing these facts.
"This year Germany has earned £100 billion more from the EU than the UK" - and yet they are fretting over not having the UK outside of the EU being competitive! If Labour have their way, we will never be competitive. Germany the powerhouse of Europe, is a farce, I think they are no better than any other main EU country, their product quality is slipping and they are not competitive.
This all strengthens my opinion that the weakening of the UK is all part of the scheme. Once that is achieved i.e. Britain cancels Brexit or leaves the EU with such an appalling deal as is planned, then the rest of Europe is for the taking. I am not sure whether France or Germany is the main evil behind the scheme.
Europe has nothing to thank the EU for and everything to fear from it.

2. Adam D Hiley , Sunday, November 17, 2019, 16:55:

if the Germans want the EU they can have it

3. Zerren Yeoville , Sunday, November 17, 2019, 17:56:

The chart on the link below was found via the Twitter feed of my now-stood-down Brexit Party PPC, which she had retweeted from someone else:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media...
Amongst other things it shows that Luxembourg gains £34.04 in benefits for every £1 it contributes to the EU, while the UK is at the bottom of the table with just 38p of benefits for every £1 it contributes, with the other 26 countries in between (19 net beneficiaries, 9 net losers). Also that the UK has the least per-capita representation per MEP, with one MEP for every 907,370 people, as compared with Malta which has one MEP for every 79,284 people.
The tweet said that even Remain supporters to whom she had shown the figures has admitted that "if it's true, it's clearly indefensible" ... and therein lies the rub. The chart as presented gives no source for the figures except to say that they are the 2018 figures. So the thing is ... can anyone confirm their veracity?

4. Jason S , Sunday, November 17, 2019, 18:27:

The key thing here is that these figures refer to goods only, and the fact that Germany - the leading manufacturing economy in Europe- exports more than Britain - a primarily service-based economy whose manufacturing base has been run down by successive Tory governments is not very surprising. For example, in 2018, the overall trade deficit with the EU of -66 billion was composed of a -94 billion deficit in goods that was offset by a £28 billion surplus in services (although according to the mystifying paragraph above “the single market for services doesn’t work”)

5. Will Boxly , Monday, November 18, 2019, 00:56:

As a Brexit supporter could we have the same information for, say, the pas 10 years?

6. Ross , Monday, November 18, 2019, 01:49:

The interesting thing to think about alongside those figures is that Germany is now in recession (or extremely close to it). So is the EU benefiting anyone, at the moment?

7. Concerned , Monday, November 18, 2019, 06:04:

I would suggest that the only ones benefittting are the ones who do not contribute but I think that is obvious.

8. Gg , Tuesday, November 26, 2019, 06:51:

It's obvious to anyone that it's not working, and why should the rest of the UK continue to fund these jobs that Remoaners are constantly whingeing about losing ? Many are only using immigrant labour in any event!

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