I don't know the Newstatesman but it sounds like a very biased magazine. "This same economics is being inflicted on Britain – cuts and austerity. Living standa

I don't know the Newstatesman but it sounds like a very biased magazine. "This same economics is being inflicted on Britain – cuts and austerity. Living standards have fallen, wages reduced as a proportion of total economic output (GDP) and in real terms, and inequality and poverty increasing. " This actually may be true. And indeed. It could be partly be caused by the EU. Have a look at the UK's debt: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/07/19/article-0-1AE4486F000005DC-67_634x403.jpg http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/07/19/article-0-1AE4486F... The UK had serious problems. Then, under Thatcher, the UK rose again and had comparably low debt. Some say this is due to Thatcher. I would have said this at one point, now I say that it was because of oil found in the Northern Sea. The UK's debt exploded after 2007, also, because the UK had a huge, potential unhealthy financial sector. So if you say that the EU is causing the problems in the UK this may be in fact true, since it allowed "The City" to live unreasonably from grains from the Financial Industry while some parts of the UK did very badly. I can not exclude the possibility that loosing a huge chunk of the financial industry and do a re-balancing may actually a good thing for the average Joe who does not live in "The City". London voted "stay" by the way.