Alistair Darling: European Union exit could put £250bn of British trade at risk

Former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling has warned leaving the European Union could put £250bn of British trade at risk and take an average of six years to negotiate new free trade deals.

Britain Stronger in Europe has released new analysis into the EU’s free trade agreements [FTA] with more than 50 countries and how it benefits the UK.

The group claims Britain exports £637bn worth of goods and services to the EU FTA nations and to other member states, accounting for 60 per cent of the UK’s total trade.

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The study is based on moving to the World Trade Organisation trading rules after leaving the EU while establishing new trade deals.

Darling, who stood down at the last Westminster election after 28 years as an MP, said: "Those wanting to leave the EU want to pull Britain out of the single market, which would mean introducing tariffs and barriers to our trade and putting billions of vital trade at risk.

"The choice is between free trade within the EU's single market of 500 million consumers or spending years negotiating new trade deals only to leave us in a weaker position than we enjoy today.

"Leaving the single market would be catastrophic for our businesses and our families who would be paying more and suffering from a weaker economy.

"There is no trading arrangement outside the EU which gives us the free trade we rely on today. Leaving would put jobs, low prices and financial security at risk."

Britain Stronger in Europe also claim it takes the EU six years to negotiate a new FTA after analysing the agreements that took place between 1974 and 2015.

But Matthew Elliott, director of Vote Leave, accused Remain campaigners of talking down Britain’s prospects. “Britain Stronger in Europe can’t even be consistent or honest in their campaign to do down the British economy,” he said.

“Their underlying belief appears to be that Britain – the world’s fifth largest economy and a nation with a great history of trading across the globe – would be an economic backwater if it wasn’t for Brussels taking control of our trade deals. That’s absurd.”

Meanwhile, American business magnate Warren Buffett has urged the UK to remain inside the European Union. The CEO of venture capitalists Berkshire Hathaway told CNBC: "I hope they stay in… Certainly if I were to vote on it, I would vote, I would stay in."

He also warned that if Britain left the EU “it would be a big step backward”.