More than a quarter of British people who voted in the
recent elections to the European Parliament voted for the UK Independence Party
(UKIP). I was one of them. UKIP wants Britain to leave the EU. It also
supports immigration controls in place of the free movement of labour required
by EU membership.
A left-wing friend challenged me on this. Wasn't I being
inconsistent, arguing in favour of free markets yet voting for a
party that wants to shut down Europe's free market in labour? My answer
was that free movement of labour worked well when EU countries were at roughly
comparable levels of prosperity (which was the case when the European Economic
Community was first set up). But today, the EU encompasses poor countries as
well as rich ones. Romania's average wage levels are about one-fifth those in
Britain.
