Thread by @uk_domain_names

Here are some examples of the benefits we used to get from EU membership. (Handy but sad reminder!)

Almost none of the value of these benefits was captured in the £9 billion/year headline figure for EU membership, because they're not simply "money going in"/"money coming back".

1. Unfettered access to the largest trade block in the world
2. Free trade deals with countries around the world, including Japan, Canada and South Korea
3. Just-in-time manufacturing, the kind that supports millions of jobs in the automotive, aerospace and other industries

4. A wide-open border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, with no customs or other checks between NI and the rest of the UK
5. Support for the Good Friday Agreement & active promotion of the Irish peace process including PEACE funding (over EUR 1.5 billion to NI from 1995-2020)

6. The freedom for UK citizens to travel, work, study and retire anywhere in the EU
7. The freedom for EU citizens to travel, work, study and retire in the UK
8. Scientific and academic collaboration
9. Shared space exploration
10. Participation in Galileo GPS satellite cluster

11. Driving licenses valid all over the EU
12. Car insurance valid all over the EU
13. Pet passports that make travel with pets easy
14. Simple fixed compensation scheme for flight delays & cancellations thanks to EU Air Passenger Rights.
15. European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)

16. Mobile roaming (calls, texts and data) at home prices
17. Longest unbroken peace in Europe (outside civil wars) for over a thousand years
18. Portable streaming services (can watch Netflix etc. all over the EU)
19. Erasmus student exchange programme

20. Simplified VAT reverse charge mechanism for those selling across the EU
21. Enhanced consumer protection, including for cross-border shopping
22. Horizon 2020 (funding for over 10,000 research projects in the UK as part of world's largest multinational research programme.)

23. Training courses for the unemployed funded by the European Social Fund
24. Disaster relief funding e.g. the 60 million euro we received for flood relief in 2017
25. Free movement for musicians and their instruments, bands and their equipment, artists and their materials etc.

26. Enhanced environmental protections
27. Court of last resort (ECJ)
28. REACH regulations & EU Chemicals Agency, improving human, animal & environmental safety around chemicals
29. Safer medicines thanks to pan-EU testing regime

30. Security cooperation and sharing of crime/terrorist databases
31. Participation in the European arrest warrant programme
32. EURATOM for medical isotopes
33. Support for rural areas ignored by successive UK Governments
34. Better food labelling

35. EU funding for the British film industry, theatre and music
36. European Capital of Culture programme, which has boosted cities such as Glasgow and Liverpool
37. Service providers (e.g. freelance translators) can offer their services to clients all over the EU

38. No UK VAT or duty on imports from the EU (great for online shopping
39. EU citizenship (it's a real thing with real benefits - look it up!)
40. Cross-border collaboration on taxes, to hold huge firms like Amazon and Facebook to account more than we otherwise could

41. Venture capital funding and startup loans
42. Legal protection for minority languages such as Welsh
43. Mutual recognition of academic qualifications
44. Legal protection for foods of geographic origin, e.g. Melton Mowbray pork pies
45. No credit and debit card surcharges

46. EU structural funding (eg. £2 billion to Liverpool) with matched private funding requirement
47. Supporting and encouraging democracy in post-communist countries
48. A bigger, stronger presence on the world stage
49. Use of EU queues at ports and airports

50. Products made or grown in the UK can be sold in 31 countries without type approval, customs duties, phytosanitary certificates etc.
51. Protection from GM food and chlorinated chicken
52. Objective 1 funding for deprived areas and regions

53. Financial services passport, enabling firms in the City to service the whole EU market
54. Strong intellectual property protections
55. University education in other EU countries at "home student" rates (many still have free universities.)

56. Mutual recognition of professional qualifications
57. Consular protection from any EU embassy outside the EU
58. Baseline of worker protections (which we can also improve on)
59. Keep open the EU market to which we send more than half the fish we catch

60. Enhanced medical research prospects
61. A friend to cosy up to against the might of the USA and China
62. Seasonal workforce to pick our fruit and vegetables
63. A vital source of medicines (we import 37 million packs a month from the EU)

64. Minimum 2 year guarantee on all products
65. Protection against unfair treatment in the workplace thanks to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
66. Minimum of 4 weeks paid leave (introduced by EU in 1993, taken up by the UK in 1998 and later extended to 28 days in 2009)

67. More influence on environmental measures that transcend borders (we get to help shape the policies that 28 countries must follow)
68. A say in the running of the EU (if we were outside, the rest of the EU would carry on but we would have zero influence over its policies)

69. Cleaner air thanks to the EU Air Quality Directive
70. Legally enforced 14 day cooling off period on timeshare agreements
71. Some of the highest toy safety standards in the world
72. Protection of 500 bird species under legislation dating back to 1979, and amended in 2009

73. Safer food
74. Clean beaches
75. Pan-EU institutions (e.g. food, chemicals etc.) save money by doing away for the need for equivalent domestic institutions

Scroll through the list again. Almost none of the items are reflected in the calculation of our net EU membership cost!