BNE Campaign Director Lucy Thomas appeared on BCB Radio 5 to talk through the consequences of the Greek crisis for the EU referendum.

See here: '5 Live Drive 14/07/2015' (listen from 02:22:15)

Lower taxes, cheaper food and cheaper clothes are among the things Business for Britain's "Change, or go" promises you if the UK leaves the EU. 

Sounds too good to be true? That's because it is. Let's run through the problems with Business for Britain's calculation.

1. Stopping Britain's payment into the EU budget: £9bn saved

Unless you would want to leave the EU single market entirely - which would be distastrous - the UK could not simply keep the money it currently contributes. To continue to trade freely with EU countries, Britain would have to join the EEA or EFTA after leaving the EU - both of which come at a cost. In the case of Norway (EEA), it is almost as much as the UK pays per capita.

2. Leaving the Common Fisheries Policy: £2.8bn saved

While it is widely acknowledged that the EU's Common Fisheries Policy is far from perfect, the issue with this figure lies once more with Business for Britain's confidence in predicting future government legislation.

"Change, or go" admits as a "caveat" that there is no telling what a future fisheries policy would look like, that fishermen with existing access to British fishing grounds will likely continue to have access, and that it may take generations for financial gains to materialise - but is quick to point out that at the same time it would save us all £2.8bn.

3. Ending "EU burdens passed through Council Tax": £500m saved

On VAT, Business for Britain's report arbitrarily picks five areas and assumes that the UK government would scrap tax on them entirely if it left the EU. It then goes on to assume that government would eliminate tax on petrol, beer and wine among others, simply because it left the EU.

But there is more: safe booster seats for children? Tachometers in buses? Business for Britain identifies these measures as an attempt by the EU to increase your Council Tax. Needless to say it is assumed that a post-Brexit government would not hesitate to scrap these requirements! After all, who wants to know how fast or far a bus is going when we could be free of these "increased operating costs"?

4. Lower product shelf prices as a result of leaving the EU: £5 saved per person

Have a look at Business for Britain's criticism of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Recycling Directive. The theory goes that eliminating the regulatory cost of reducing waste output will result in cheaper product prices for all of us. But has it not occurred to the authors that firms also have to pay for waste disposal and recycling, which would also be reflected in consumer prices? We will leave it to Business for Britain's experts to hypothesise on this one...

If that is not enough to undermine the reliability of the figure, page 825 of "Change, or go" points out that "once again, there is no easy mechanism for translating potential UK savings in these areas into a cohesive single assessment" - before going on to do it anyway. In other words: They simply have no idea, but they gave it a shot anyway.

5. Leaving the EU results in cheaper clothes: £146 saved per person

"Change, or go" itself points out prominently that this figure is speculative. Business for Britain assume a 12% reduction in all clothing costs, citing tariffs. However not all clothing imports face a 12% tariff, and so the calculation is unreliable. For example, importing gloves from India would only face a 7.6% tariff.

It also assumes that British government would get rid of all import tariffs, which could trouble domestic production and swamp the market, making competition for brands like Burberry harder if not impossible. 

Besides this, to leave the common customs tariff would mean a tariff on every import and export between the UK and EU member states, resulting in immense costs for British manufacturers.

Looks like Business for Britain's £933 promise is an empty one.

Business leaders say the latest survey of FTSE-350 companies is a “wake-up call” for those calling for Britain to quit the EU. The new survey of company secretaries shows that the majority believe a British exit from Europe would damage UK companies, posing a risk to jobs and growth. 

Responding to the survey by the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) which states 63 per cent of their members see a British exit from Europe as “damaging” to their business, Lucy Thomas, Campaign Director of Business for New Europe, said: 

“This report makes clear that British business have serious concerns about the damage that a British exit from Europe could cause. The overwhelming majority of British business leaders want to see the UK remain inside a reformed European Union,and focus on cutting down red tape and streamlining the institutions, not put jobs and growth at risk by walking away.

“The results of this survey of FTSE-350 companies are a real wake-up call for those who claim that British business would simply carry on as normal outside the single market, without access to Europe’s 500 million consumers. 

“And under any of the scenarios proposed by those arguing for a British exit, it is simply impossible for them to address the concerns expressed by business leaders including just how many jobs could be lost here in the UK. 

“Business leaders know that a British exit from Europe is not a risk worth taking, because at a time when we still face a challenging economic climate, it makes no sense to put jobs and investment in jeopardy.” 

The Brexit camp believes that the EU doesn’t work and its members should leave. Greece makes their case.

Read here: 'Brexit foes fear Grexit may push UK out too'

The new EU plan to abolish mobile phone roaming charges across Europe will save British holidaymakers money, says Business for New Europe. The pro-European business campaign was commenting on the provisional deal reached in Brussels last night to eliminate all roaming charges on calls, texts or data by June 2017. The parties also agreed to cut roaming charges to a maximum of just €0.05 per minute per call by 2016 as an interim step. Member states and the EU institutions also reached agreement on a net neutrality package to protect personal data.
 
Lucy Thomas, Campaign Director of Business for New Europe, said:
 
“Roaming charges are one of the hidden costs of the summer holiday, so it is brilliant that that these could be scrapped after 2017. It's a great example of Europe working together to cut costs and stand up for consumers to stop them being ripped off.
 
“Holidays are much cheaper and easier thanks to Europe: the cost of flights has come down 40% and borderless travel has removed the need for visas. Pulling out of Europe would simply mean that Britons would cease to enjoy the advantages of being in.”

Eurosceptic calls to quit the EU over immigration don’t give a true reflection of how immigration benefits Britain’s economy and public services. That is BNE's response to the latest section of Change or Go, a report by anti-European group Business for Britain. 

It is certainly novel to see a business group promoting policies which will directly damage British business. As this report admits, recent studies have shown “a net economic benefit from EEA migration.” British businesses – most recently the housebuilder Crest Nicholson and the recruitment company Manpower – are solidly in favour of the free movement of workers in order to fill UK labour shortages. No visa system would be as effective in doing this as the EU’s free movement of people.

As Business for Britain’s report makes clear, leaving the EU would not automatically mean we could close our borders. In order to continue to be part of the world’s largest market, we would need to accept free movement of people. Norway and Switzerland both have to accept EU migrants in order to continue their membership of the single market. Leaving the Single Market in order to marginally reduce net migration would be an appalling trade-off.

It is right that migrants should not take advantage of the welfare state, which is why the Prime Minister is pushing for reform to tighten up the rules. As our paper last year this is highly possible by working primarily through domestic policy.

There is also no guarantee or certainty over what would happen to the two million Britons who live in the rest of the EU. While the Vienna convention might protect current expats, those who wished to emigrate in future could face terrible difficulty – including those who want to be reunited with family members who already leave the EU. It also requires a very broad interpretation of the Convention to assume that all legislative acts of the expats’ home state would be continued after a Brexit. They could lose various benefits and face a harder standard of living.

It is encouraging to see Business for Britain coming down off the fence they have occupied for so long. Like yesterday’s instalment on foreign policy, their report on immigration explicitly advocates leaving the EU, without a word about renegotiation. It is now clear that Business for Britain, far from supporting David Cameron’s renegotiation agenda on migrant benefits, are set on taking Britain out of the EU.

David Cameron has accepted there may be no change to the EU's treaties to accommodate Britain's demands ahead of a referendum.

Read here: 'David Cameron accepts EU treaty change delay'