Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader
Member of Parliament for Northland
13 MAY 2016
Great Opportunity For Brits If Leave EU
To leave or stay in the EU is for the British people to decide, but they also have a chance to link up with the dynamic
economic powerhouse of the Commonwealth, says New Zealand First Leader and Northland Member of Parliament, Rt Hon
Winston Peters.
In a speech at the House of Lords, London, on Thursday evening (NZ time), he said the UK returning to the Commonwealth
and the creation of a Commonwealth Free Trade Area would heal a rift dating back 43 years.
“Why trade on a continental scale when you could really trade on a global scale?
“The Commonwealth is now a dynamic powerhouse crossing every time zone and trading session in the world.
“In 2014 the Commonwealth produced GDP of $10.45 trillion, a massive 17 percent of gross world product. Seen that way,
the Commonwealth could be a colossus.
“Part of the choice the UK faces is of a Europe, divided and indebted, or trade in the developed and emerging economies
of the Commonwealth.
“Many outsiders are telling the British they must remain. New Zealand’s Prime Minister has. So did former Canadian Prime
Minister Harper and President Obama.
“None of those leaders asked their people, or your people first.
“This is a decision that the people that once made Britain great, alone must make,” Mr Peters said.
ENDS