PM speech at easyJet on why the UK should stay in a reformed EU (Archived)
David Cameron spoke at easyJet in Luton on the reasons for staying in the EU and implications on travel costs if the UK were to leave.
Thank you, it바카라 사이트™s great to be here with you here in Luton, and I am a proud easyJet passenger. You바카라 사이트™ve flown me actually all over Europe: Portugal, Majorca, France, Spain, and almost always on time, although I have to admit that I바카라 사이트™m not always on time. Actually, as I drove in here this morning, I remember once when I missed a flight altogether and had a lovely night in the Ibis hotel on the way into the airport. So I바카라 사이트™ve let you down more often than you바카라 사이트™ve let me down.
But it is actually, funnily enough, interesting point: very few people have I stopped on the street to tell them that I think that they바카라 사이트™ve done an amazing thing, but actually your founder is one of them. I did do that once, because I think easyJet was a fantastic creation. And today, with whatever it is: 800 routes, 70 million passengers, supporting around 10,000 jobs in our country, this is a fantastic great British success story. So it is a pleasure to be here, talking to you about this vital issue and taking your questions.
Because on 23 June, we바카라 사이트™ve got to make a really big decision for the future of our country. General elections are important, of course I believe that, but actually I think this is more important than a general election. If you don바카라 사이트™t like the result of a general election, 5 years later you can make a different decision and have a different team running the country. Obviously not something I바카라 사이트™m looking forward to, but nonetheless that바카라 사이트™s the way the system works.
But this is a really big choice about Britain, and I바카라 사이트™m arguing very clearly that we are safer if we stay in, because we can fight terrorism better if we바카라 사이트™re part of this team. I think we바카라 사이트™ll be stronger, because I think Britain gains from being in these organisations rather than losing by being in them. But crucially, I think we바카라 사이트™ll be better off. And it바카라 사이트™s not a complicated argument to make. It바카라 사이트™s because we바카라 사이트™re part of a market of 500 million people; the biggest single market anywhere in the world. And that is good for jobs, it바카라 사이트™s good for companies, it바카라 사이트™s good for investment, it brings businesses here to Britain. It means great businesses like this one can expand throughout the single market. It바카라 사이트™s good for our economy, and so if we were to leave, it would be bad for our economy. It would mean less growth, it would mean fewer jobs, it would mean higher prices. It would mean, as we set out yesterday, a recession for our economy. So we바카라 사이트™re better off if we stay in this organisation.
And it바카라 사이트™s not a static thing, because of course the single market is still expanding. It바카라 사이트™s good we바카라 사이트™ve got a single market in aviation; that has massively helped your business. I can remember days, I바카라 사이트™m old enough to remember, when flying off on holiday meant getting on a sort of state owned aeroplane and going to a state owned airport in another country, and paying a very high price for it. And as Carolyn has said, prices have come down 40% since the single market has come about, and since the radical transformation that companies like easyJet have brought about.
So I바카라 사이트™m quite convinced that when it comes to this economic argument, we are better off if we stay in and we바카라 사이트™re worse off if we leave. And as I said, it바카라 사이트™s not static, because the single market is going to go into energy, it바카라 사이트™s going to go into digital, where we바카라 사이트™re a real leader, and it바카라 사이트™s going to go further into services industries, which actually make up 80% of our economy. So for those reasons I think we바카라 사이트™ll be better off.
And today we바카라 사이트™re talking about some quite specific things, some quite 바카라 사이트˜retail바카라 사이트™ things, if you like, which is what would happen to the cost of a holiday if we were to leave. If we were to leave, and the pound were to fall, which is what most people expect and what the Treasury forecast, that would put up the cost of a typical holiday for a family of 4 to a European destination by £230. It could, as Carolyn has said, put up actually the cost of air travel, because if you바카라 사이트™re outside the single market, which is what those who want us to leave think, then you바카라 사이트™d face all sorts of bureaucracy and restrictions that you don바카라 사이트™t face today.
Another very retail thing that is happening in Europe, and there are a few people with mobile phones right now 바카라 사이트“ don바카라 사이트™t worry, film away, this is all live anyway. We바카라 사이트™re abolishing roaming charges in the European Union. It바카라 사이트™s one of the most annoying things: you바카라 사이트™re on holiday, you use your mobile phone, you get an enormous bill. Getting rid of roaming charges could mean on a 10 minute call back to the UK, you바카라 사이트™re saving almost £4 on that 10 minute call. So I think there바카라 사이트™s some very strong retail arguments about the cost of a holiday, the cost of food, the cost of using your phone, for staying in the European Union.
Now, before I take your questions, I just want to make one other argument, because I think in this debate it바카라 사이트™s very important to talk about the specifics, and we have, about jobs and prices and costs of holidays and costs of phone calls. But there is also, in my view, a bigger argument. I don바카라 사이트™t believe those people who say, 바카라 사이트˜Well, my head says we ought to stay in the European Union but my heart says somehow, we would be a prouder and more patriotic country if we were outside.바카라 사이트™ I don바카라 사이트™t think that is right. I think this is an amazing country. We are the fifth biggest economy in the world. We바카라 사이트™ve done great things in this world. We바카라 사이트™re a very interconnected country. What happens on the other side of the world matters to us. We care about tackling climate change; we care about trying to alleviate poverty in Africa; we know we need to have the world바카라 사이트™s trade lanes open for British business and enterprise. And I absolutely believe, if you want a big, bold, strong United Kingdom, then you want to be in organisations like a reformed European Union, rather than outside of them. Britain is part of the G7, we바카라 사이트™re part of the G20, we바카라 사이트™re part of NATO, which helps to keep our defences strong. We are a very important part of the Commonwealth, which brings about a third of humanity together in one organisation. And we바카라 사이트™re members of the European Union. Being in these organisations doesn바카라 사이트™t diminish our standing and our strength in the world, in my view. It enhances it. So I think the big, bold, patriotic case is to stay in a reformed European Union, to fight for the sort of world that we want, rather than to stand back and be on the outside.
And in a way, that바카라 사이트™s sort of what easyJet has done. Here you are, a British based business, but a business that has decided to take on the world in terms of being competitive, running routes all over Europe and beyond, and recognising that is in your interests, your passengers바카라 사이트™ interests, your shareholders바카라 사이트™ interests, all the people in this room바카라 사이트™s interests.
And that바카라 사이트™s my argument about Britain: let바카라 사이트™s be the big, bold strong Britain inside the reformed European Union rather than voting to leave, and that바카라 사이트™s the case I바카라 사이트™m going to make every day between now and 23 June, with just under a month to go.