UK can survive on free trade: Euroskeptic UKIP
Britain would still have a healthy economy even if it left the European Union (EU), thanks to a "free trade" deal with its former partners, the economic spokesman for the UK's main Euroskeptic party told CNBC.
Nigel Farage's UK Independence Party (UKIP), which advocates immediate withdrawal from the EU, won the biggest proportion of the U.K. vote in this weekend's European parliamentary elections, beating more established parties to a 27.5 percent share.
Steven Woolfe, UKIP economic spokesperson and one of the party's new MEPs, dismissed fears that a U.K. outside the EU would suffer. One concern is that the City, which makes up a sizable part of the U.K. economy, would lose its ability to offer its financial services to other parts of the EU if Britain quit the 28-country group.
"While the City is important to us," Woolfe said, a free trading deal with the rest of Europe would make Britain "the largest trading partner of their goods into us."
"The way forward now as we have seen across the globe is towards free trade arrangements," he added". "The EU has already had that and I believe the U.K. can have that too."
"Germany would have to trade with us because they want to keep their trade open in many, many goods."
The rise in the number of anti-EU MEPs means that a large chunk of the European Parliament now actively wants its abolition.
Anti-establishment parties of the far right and hard left have scored well in this weekend's elections for the European Union's parliament -- thanks in part to a low turnout.
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"The whole European project has been a lie," Farage told reporters Monday. "I don't just want Britain to leave the European Union, I want Europe to leave the European Union."
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UKIP has campaigned on an anti-immigration ticket, highlighting the increase in people arriving in the U.K. from other parts of the EU. Woolfe dismissed concerns that a closed-door policy would dissuade international business from investing in the UK.
"We believe that all people coming into this country will be treated equally," he said.
He added that the UK immigration policy would operate on a points-based system similar to the one used by the U.S. and "would be looking in terms of quality rather than quantity."
UKIP has yet to formulate a full economic policy, covering taxation, welfare and government spending. Woolfe, who was appointed the party's economic spokesman six weeks ago, told CNBC that in the run-up to the party's conference in September, he will be drawing up a set of rigorously tested policies.
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