The previous extracts from Ten Years On have looked in particular at what life would be like for a free Britain. In our final extract, Lee Rotherham explores how the EU will have developed in the next ten years.
We are standing in a fresh-mown London park. The showers have kept away for this fine cobalt day, as the crowds loiter around the marquee. Lord Teddy Taylor has just concluded his welcome speech, congratulating in particular the guests who have just received their MBEs from the King. These are honours that have been a long time coming, granted for services to …

The book orders continue to flow in at a remarkable pace – thank you for being so enthusiastic!
If you haven’t received your book yet, you can be assured that we’re processing all of them as fast as possible. You don’t need to take my word for it, either – here’s one of my colleagues battling the heap of envelopes today!

What would the settlement for a self-governing Britain be like? The ninth extract from Ten Years On takes a sneak look into the future…
Associated membership was the name given for the arrangement. The British got their deal; Free Trade and Friendship, accepting the price of a four year wind-down of the old system of contributions to the EU budget. Some were disappointed not to pull the financial support more quickly; this proved particularly acute in November 2010, when the country teetered on the edge of a national strike. Huge cuts had been required across government departments to stop the country …

We’ve had a remarkable response to Ten Years On in the last two weeks. Having originally intended to distribute 5,000 free copies, we swiftly received a staggering 35,000 orders! I’m pleased to say that as a result we’ve been able to extend the offer, meaning all 35,000 people will be getting a free book and we now have several thousand more free copies available. If you haven’t got one yet, you can order the book here.

The first manifesto commitment had been entered into in 2008, an understated, even ethereal, threat that if Lisbon were ratified by the present government, Conservatives ‘would not let matters rest there’. While intended as a policy sticking plaster, as the EU rose back up the political agenda this commitment moved to centre stage.
A second crucial element was a clear cut pledge to restore the Social Chapter opt out, which by definition meant that a renegotiation of the treaties was on the cards.
Much to their surprise, the new Government found that, in an ionised political atmosphere, these commitments began to build …

Immigration has long been one of the hottest political potatoes. How does the EU touch on the topic?
Jack Connolly is a senior official with the UK Border Agency.  He tells us he’s seen some big changes for the better since 2010.
‘Once we were out of the EU, the government quickly set up bilateral agreements with the EU, the US, and Commonwealth states, and workforce mobility hasn’t been disrupted at all.  The government took a leaf from the Canadians’ book and set up a points system that recognises the kind of skills we need and can be tuned to whatever demands …

One of the most regularly cited facts about the EU is that it generates the majority of Britain’s laws. As well as the flow of individual pieces of legislation, there is heated debate about movement towards a more European legal system and potential clashes with the British legal tradition. The latest extract from Ten Years On delves into the legal arena…
We talk to Jane McAlister, a prominent lawyer, about how things are different today.  She sees changes in the way both civil and criminal cases are handled.
‘You have to appreciate,’ she says to us, ‘that the European and British approaches …

BBC Radio 4 aired a fascinating documentary last night called “Divorcing Europe”, which heard from a variety of voices from right across the political spectrum discussing what might happen if Britain was to free itself from EU control. You can download it online here. There’s also a written report of the show here.
The programme ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. Whether you think that we should pull up the drawbridges, that we should have a more constructive relationship from outside the EU, that we should be inside lobbying for reform or – as one interviewee suggested – that being outside the …

The Common Agricultural Policy makes up a huge proportion of the EU budget – vast amounts of money are spent or doled out, and yet the farming sector is in an ongoing crisis. This latest extract from Ten Years On explores how British farmers could be affected by a new relationship with the EU:
Eric Parker is planning on retiring from dairy farming next year. A few years ago he was saying that the business was a mug’s game. Yet now he is happy that his son, Bill, is stepping up to the mark. ‘The reforms that we made here as …

Fishing was one of the earliest sectors to be subject to an EU Common Policy, bringing EU policy right onto the boats in hug edetail. What state could the industry be in Ten Years On?
Jim Thomson is rightly proud of his new thirty footer. Riding high in the dockside at Peterhead, the Annie is the newest addition to the Scottish inshore fishing fleet. Along with two other recently built vessels in the harbour, it symbolises the recovery of the industry today in 2020, after a period of forty years of decline.
Back in 1970, there had been 21,443 fishermen in the …