During 2013-14, the IEA ran a competition to find the best blueprint for Britain outside the EU, with the objective of securing a free and prosperous economy should it choose to leave. The IEA does not have a position on whether Britain should leave the EU. However, it is part of their educational mission to promote a wider understanding of the importance of a free economy and the institutions that are necessary for a free economy. They therefore regarded it as important to promote debate on the best way to achieve this in the event of the British people choosing to leave the EU: that was the main purpose of the competition. To provide a longer-lasting contribution to this debate, the IEA decided to publish this monograph examining the various options using, in the main, entries to the British Exit ('Brexit') competition. There was a wide range of possible approaches suggested by entrants to that competition.Some proposed that Britain should promote free trade and openness through the unilateral removal of trade and other barriers to economic activity; others proposed maintaining formal relationships with European countries through the European Free Trade Association and/or the European Economic Area; still other entrants took the view that Britain should seek to form economic and political alliances and partnerships with countries outside Europe - for example with the Commonwealth or the --Anglosphere - normally with a view to that being a gateway to free trade with as much of the world as would be willing. The winner was Foreign Office diplomat Iain Mansfield, who received most of the publicity at the end of the competition. However, in understanding how Britain can be free and prosperous in the event that it leaves the EU, it is worthwhile considering a range of other approaches to 'Brexit'. It is only through determining the best destiny for Britain outside the EU that the correct decision will be taken about whether to leave the EU and, if so, how. This book therefore brings together Iain Mansfield's submission with edited versions of two other entries.One of those, by Robert Oulds, proposes that the UK remains a member of the European Economic Area and rejoins the European Free Trade Association; another, by Ralph Buckle and Tim Hewish, proposes that Britain pursues free trade through the route of the Commonwealth and the Anglosphere. The final contribution, by John Hulsman, was not an entry to the competition but re-examines an approach to promoting free trade first proposed in his IEA monograph published in 2001, The World Turned Rightside Up. This involved the development of a global free-trade association. Overall, this book is an important contribution to the debate about how Britain should leave the EU, should it choose to do so. It distils clearly the different options and the advantages and disadvantages of alternative approaches with reference to the objective of promoting a free and prosperous economy. The authors have different views about how to achieve the same objective. It is hoped that, by presenting those different views in this volume, the debate will move beyond 'Britain - in or out?' to a debate about something just as important: 'If Britain should leave, how should it leave?'

About the Author
Ralph Buckle is a director and co-founder of the Commonwealth Exchange. He has considerable political, campaigning and event management experience having worked for think tanks, politicians, public affairs agencies and political communication specialists. He has a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) from the University of York. Tim Hewish is a director and co-founder of the Commonwealth Exchange. He has a Masters in Imperial & Commonwealth History and a strong knowledge of the Commonwealth as author of 'Common-Trade, Common-Growth, Common-Wealth'. Dr. John C. Hulsman is the president and co-founder of John C. Hulsman Enterprises, a global political risk consulting firm. An eminent foreign policy expert, John is a senior columnist on foreign affairs for City AM and also writes regularly for the Aspen Institute of Italy, and 'Limes', the premier Italian foreign affairs journal. A veteran of think tanks in Europe and America, Hulsman is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Iain Mansfield is the Director of Trade and Investment at the UK's embassy in the Philippines and has previously worked for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. He lives with his wife, Sarah, who teaches at the British School, Manila. Iain is also the author of the novel 'Imperial Visions' and has a Masters in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge. Robert Oulds M.A. FRSA, is the longstanding Director of the Bruges Group, the respected think tank which for the last 20 years has been at the forefront of the debate about the UK's relationship with the EU and the wider world. He is the author of 'Everything You Wanted to Know About the EU But Were Afraid to Ask'.


Book Information
ISBN 9780255366816
Author Ralph Buckle
Format Paperback
Page Count 96
Imprint Institute of Economic Affairs
Publisher Institute of Economic Affairs