Should the UK leave the EU?
A question that has been circulating the UK recently has been whether or not the UK should leave the EU. This is due to the proposed referendum that the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced in January 2013, on the basis that the conservative party win a majority at the next general election. Polls that have been taken since 2010 indicate that the population of the UK is divided on this question, with the largest poll showing a split with 41% in favour of EU membership, 41% in favour of EU withdrawal, and 18% undecided. If the UK left the EU, they would be the first ever member state to do so.
The UK is central to the EU, being it’s second biggest economy. However the creation of the euro in 1999 caused the UK to be pushed further from the centre, and created a divide between the UK and other EU countries. A great number of migrants from new EU member states arriving in Britain has created a lack of enthusiasm in the UK for EU membership, and has also encouraged the growth of the United Kingdom Independence Party, which is anti-immigrant and anti-EU.
It has been argued by most of the UK population that there should be a referendum on membership of the EU, based on the fact that the nature of the current European Union is different from the one that the UK joined 40 years ago. David Cameron was pressured to give in to this from others in his party. However others disagree with this, saying that a referendum would undermine constitution.