ONE of the arguments regularly used against Brexit is that if Britain did leave the European Union on Thursday then we would find ourselves isolated.
By PAUL NUTTALL
Paul Andrew Nuttall is a British politician, who serves as Deputy Leader of the UK Independence Party, President of the Initiative for Direct Democracy in Europe and Member of the European Parliament for North West England. Wikipedia
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| Ukip's Paul Nuttall wants Britain to form closer ties with the Commonwealth not the EU |
The Remain brigade claim that we would become a small island on the peripheries of Europe with no friends, which of course is a compete nonsense.
In their determination to scare the British public into voting to stay in the EU, the Remain camp are not only ignoring the fact we are the fifth largest economy on the planet, but also that there is another thriving organisation out there who we could and should be doing more business with.
It is called the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth today contains fifty-three countries - compared to the EU's twenty-eight. It covers a quarter of the globe's landmass and contains a quarter of the world's people.
Whereas the EU's proportion of world trade is shrinking, the Commonwealth's is growing.
In 2013 the Commonwealth economy overtook the Eurozone's and by 2019 it will have overtaken the EU's as a whole, contributing 17.7 per cent in terms of global trade compared to the EU's 15.3 per cent.
This is because the Commonwealth contains not only some of the most stable economies in the world like Australia and Canada, but also some of the fastest growing, like India, which is projected to be the second largest economy on the planet by the middle of this century.
Many Brexiters like myself often call for our country to reignite our links with the Commonwealth once we leave the EU.
However, pessimistic Remain campaigners claim that this would not be possible because the Commonwealth countries do not have any appetite for increased trade with the UK outside the EU.
But this is simply not true. For example - the State Bank of India is in favour of Brexit, but for some reason this has been so far ignored by the media.
The Chief Economist at the State Bank stated that he believed Brexit could be good for both the UK and India. He believes that if we leave the EU then "the UK may very well be compensated for the loss of market in the EU by gains in India."
In other words, we can increase our trade with India which at the moment, to be frank, is utterly pathetic.
Today, only a tiddly 1.5 per cent of our total trade is done with India. This is ridiculous if we consider that dysfunctional and tiny Belgium does 3 per cent of its trade with India, as does Germany.
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| The Commonwealth's proportion of world trade is shrinking |
Yet those countries have no historical or linguistic links to India like ourselves.
Moreover, as the Prime Minister told Question Time on Sunday evening, our economy is 80 per cent service based - yet we sell more of our services to the miniscule principality of Luxembourg, which has a population of half a million people, than we do to India, whose population is a whopping 1.2 billion.
In addition, seventeen countries now trade more with India than we do, including Nigeria and the tiny Gulf state of Kuwait.
If that doesn't tell us that we are neglecting a huge untapped market because we are hemmed in to a shrinking European Single Market, then I don't know what does.
But it is not just the influential Indian bank that wants to see us Brexit, it is others within the Commonwealth.
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| The Brexiter says Britain is missing a huge opportunity by opting to remain in a protectionist EU |
Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard also backed Brexit observing that "the European project is fundamentally flawed" and "I think its best days are probably behind it".
Another former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott called for "more Jakarta, less Geneva".
Former New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters asserted that we have a "historic chance" to "correct a mistake" on Thursday and re-engage with a Commonwealth that "has a diversity of markets the EU could only dream of".
Unlike the Remain camp, I do not believe that the Commonwealth is a step backwards. On the contrary, I believe it is an organisation firmly with two feet in the 21st Century.
They also want to do more trade with us, but unfortunately we cannot reciprocate effectively because we are tied to a sclerotic and protectionist EU.
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| The Commonwealth contains a quarter of the world's people |
In my opinion, we are missing a huge opportunity as things stand.
Personally, I would love to see a Commonwealth Free Trade Area where tariffs are abolished between nations that share history, common law and common language.
This, I admit, is some way down the line.
But for now, let us vote to leave the EU on Thursday, start to negotiate our own bespoke free trade deals with our Commonwealth cousins, and look forward to a prosperous future together.
• Paul Nuttall is Deputy Leader of Ukip and MEP for the North West
http://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/682269/Brussels-UK-business-Commonwealth-PAUL-NUTTALL-Ukip-trade
