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These were the points in the official Vote Leave campaign leaflet.
So let's look at those points..
1) "The UK joined the European Union in 1973. Back then it was known as the Common Market".
No really, it wasn't. It was only nicknamed such in the UK, but in no other country. And the politicians of the day - there was also a referendum in 1975 - were very upfront about the vision that the EU would lead to ever tighter integration in all kind of aspects.
2) "When we joined, there were just 9 member states".
Duh. And you didn't think even back then, in 1973, that Spain wouldn't join when Franco croaked, or Portugal when Salazar did, or Greece when the colonels were deposed, or Sweden, or Finland, or Austria just when they wanted, or that the Eastern European states would join after the fall of the Iron Curtain? Okay, the latter was a very distant prospect but all the other ones were very realistic short-term events.
3) "More than half of the net migration of the UK comes from the EU".
So what? What's the point to this point? I'm really lost about this one. At least those immigrants are not dirty brown Muslim Pakis.
4) "While we're in the EU, the UK can't make trade deals on our own".
Rejoice because if you would, you even couldn't as the current situation shows. The EU is ready to negotiate the Brexit, and you have to hire ex-colonials to help you out.
5) "The EU costs $350 million a week. That's enough to build a NHS hospital a week."
The Brexit vote is now what? 15 weeks ago. Where are those 15 hospitals? It's a ludicrous comparison and it says nothing about the benefits.
6) "You don't have to be a member of the EU to trade with it. Switzerland is not in the EU and it exports more per person to the EU than we do."
Oooh, Switzerland is the alternative they want? Which has umpteen treaties with the EU which are all intertwined: violate one, you violate all. And which is already sanctioned for the 2014 referendum about restricting immigration?
I also have to wonder about the claim that multinationals are pro-EU while SMEs are not. It is in fact the SMEs which profit most from being in the EU and thus cutting a lot of red tape. While a multinational can easily set up a department to deal with all the red tape, an SME cannot. See The Don for a concrete example.
7) "EU law overrides UK law. This stops the British public from being able to vote out the politicians who make our laws."
You know that first one since 1973. And I think it's
good. The second sentence is a bald-faced lie. Those EU laws are voted on by the EP, and you get to vote for the EP.
8) "There are risks voting either way".
That's another bald-faced lie. You know what you have. You don't know what you get when you vote for Brexit. And this leaflet does not even provide a clear policy proposal. It suggests cutting immigration and then touts Switzerland as an alternative - a country that was at the very same time already sanctioned for doing that.
