Pendle Labour Party Blog

I believe that along with others, I share some trepidation about the imbalance between what the UK contributes to the EU budget and what we receive back in direct payments.

However I recognise that we need in turn to balance that against being a member of the biggest market in the world and the benefits that this offers to all sectors of the UK economy.

David Cameron has often spoke of the need to build the manufacturing sector (the trade unions have been arguing for this for three decades) to rebalance the over reliance on financial services. However, his decision to veto the recent proposed treaty has been heralded to protect our financial sector, but this may be to the detriment of manufacturing and the service industries.

Why do I say this?

Quite simply, I believe that multinational companies are ruthless by nature and faced with a choice of continuing to invest in the UK or one of the other 27 countries in the EU they will consider which countries have the greatest opportunity to exert influence within the EU. It is patently obvious that Cameron seriously damaged the UK’s ability to wield influence by playing the ‘one trick’ veto to appease the eurosceptics within his own party.

No doubt the multinationals will also be casting a watchful eye over the right wing of the Tory party who appear to have their minds set on leaving the EU. Whilst I have my own concerns about how the EU is managed, I do ask myself, given that this ‘fractious rump’ is dictating an exit policy to Cameron, will the multinationals see the UK as a sound place to invest their money whilst this influence prevails?