The working people of the UK are stronger in Europe

The working people in the UK have good reasons to vote to stay in the European Union, but not for the same reasons as the government or the reports from the financial sector and neoliberal thinktanks suggest. The UK should stay in the EU and work to expand the high road policies to the rest of labour. The effects of the pro-labour policies would be a lot stronger if implemented at the European level. A 1%-point increase in the wage share in the EU as a whole increases the GDP in the UK by 0.2%; this is almost double the increase that could be achieved if the UK were to implement these policies alone (Onaran and Obst, 2015). In the context of high road labour market policies, private investment also increases along with wage increases thanks to positive demand effects. The negative impact on trade balance is also more negligible when our trade partners allow their wages and demand increase. Therefore the UK should see the EU membership as an opportunity to increase our area of manoeuvre, use every chance to improve cooperation among pro-labour forces, and lead high road labour market policies in the EU as opposed to its current position of promoting low road policies.