Writing in the Sun on Sunday on the 14th of February 2016, Dr Fox offered a rebuttal to "Project Fear"
It is sad but unsurprising that those who want to keep the British people to be kept within the confines of the European Union have launched what they call “Project Fear”. This is designed to make the British people afraid of change. They began with a ridiculous story last week that migrant camps in Calais would move overnight to Kent if we vote to leave the EU. It backfired spectacularly when the French government denied the story but we can expect more.
One of the main scare stories is that our trade with the EU, and the jobs associated with it,will be lost if we vote to leave. Let’s just take a reality check on that. At the moment,we import far more from the rest of the EU than we export. For every £3 worth of exports we sell them, we buy £5 worth from them. Are we really to believe that Chancellor Merkel would tell BMW or Mercedes to stop selling cars to us if we were to leave? Would President Hollande tell Beaujolais producers not to sell wine to the Brits. Of course not, the arguments are clearly nonsense. Likewise, Project Fear will tell us that investment into the UK will dry up if we leave the EU. Yet major major international companies are already making clear that they invest in the UK because of our better economic conditions and the quality of our workforce. For example, the announcement by Toyota’s chief executive, Akio Toyoda, that they will keep making cars in Britain, even if voters opt to leave the European Union is of tremendous importance. It gives reassurance to those who work in its assembly plant near Derby and its engine plant in North Wales and it blows out of the water the irresponsible scaremongering of those claim that millions of jobs will be lost and investment from overseas will disappear.
Not only will Britain not suffer from Brexit, it could provide major economic opportunities for our country. We would lose the heavy burden of regulation imposed upon us by Brussels for a start but we would also be able to negotiate trade deals with countries where the EU does not currently have them. This includes the USA, China, India, Australia and New Zealand. This would enable us to benefit from the rapid growth in these wider global markets rather than depending on the sluggish Eurozone. And all this is without considering the windfall of the £10billion net contribution that would find its way back to the UK treasury, even if we paid the full level of subsidy to groups like British farmers, which we must. This is not something to fear – it is a wonderful opportunity to thrive.
The other great, and possibly most ridiculous scare story from Project Fear is that we would be less safe and secure outside the EU.They say that we would not have the same intelligence cooperation with other EU countries if we were to leave. Really? Britain has the best intelligence services in Europe and a unique relationship with American intelligence. Are we really to believe that the French and German governments would reduce cooperation in the fight against terrorism and put their own citizens at greater risk just to punish Britain for leaving the EU? It is just not credible. In fact, the opposite is true. At the moment, we are seeing a huge influx of migrant into continental EU countries from Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. The countries such as Germany, in which they are arriving, have no idea whether they will turn out to be genuine refugees, economic migrants, islamist sympathisers or even part of terrorist networks. The stark truth is that once they get citizenship, from any EU country, they will have a right to come to the UK – if we stay in the EU. Up to 3 million migrants are expected to have arrived in the EU by the end of 2016. The Government’s renegotiation has not asked for any changes to the free movement of people and we will get no changes. As former Commission President Barroso said, it will make no difference to the mass migration we have seen to Britain.
Whatever voters actually want, what will not be on offer at the referendum is the status quo. Change is inevitable. The choice will be for either membership of the European Union that will continue to integrate its institutions and policies in the drive for ever closer union or it will be for a Britain that is able to make its own laws, control its own borders and determine its own future without interference from Brussels.
I believe that a country that cannot make its own laws and control its own borders is not a free and independent nation. I want Britain to be free to take advantage of new economic opportunities and independent of outside controls. We must not give in to the fear mongers. It is time to take control. Time to leave and be free.