EU membership strongly benefits the UK, but pro-Europeans should push for a credible reform agenda to regain the confidence of the British public

Abstract

Today the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) releases a report on the UK’s relationship with the EU: ‘Staying in: a reform plan for Britain and Europe’. Glenn Gottfried, summarising the report, writes that while the UK receives a number of benefits from EU membership, the case for ‘staying in’ has not been made effectively to the British public. IPPR also propose an EU reform agenda, including a reduction in the size of the Common Agricultural Policy and strengthening the legitimacy of the European Commission – reforms which will have a much greater chance of success if the British government takes a more constructive approach to EU negotiations