GETTY Report reveals UK wouldn't struggle with trade deals outside EU despite Osborne's claims

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Written by some of the most eminent legal experts in the field, the Lawyers for Britain research discredits claims by Chancellor George Osborne that the UK would find it “very difficult” to renegotiate trade deals with 27 EU members and 50 global trading partners. The report was yesterday hailed as a game changer by the independent Institute of Economic Affairs think tank. Director-general Martin Littlewood said: “This nails the lie from the Remain camp that if we were to leave the EU Britain would find itself at ground zero, or year zero.

“In fact, we would have in place nearly all the arrangements that we could possibly want and we would have plenty of time to exercise flexibility from there.” Britain is already a signatory to more than 50 trade deals of varying degrees of importance between the EU and nations outside Europe. They include tariff-free South Korea and Switzerland, both top 10 trading partners for the UK. Exports to South Korea account for a £5billion boon to Britain’s economy every year while those to Switzerland represent £7.3billion.

GETTY Osborne expressed at the G7 summit that it would be 'extremely difficult' to trade outside EU

Speaking at the G7 summit in Japan on Monday, Mr Osborne said: “If we left the EU, we would have a two-year period to negotiate our exit with 27 other countries.

The legal position is clear. We’d have to start from scratch, which would take years if not decades Chancellor George Osborne

“We would then have to negotiate new arrangements with them and at the same time conclude over 50 trade deals with countries that aren’t even in Europe. That would be extremely difficult to do.” This was echoed by a Remain spokesman, who said: “The legal position is clear. We’d have to start from scratch, which would take years if not decades, meaning ongoing uncertainty for trade, investment, jobs and livelihoods.” But this was rejected by the report’s author Martin Howe QC, one of Britain’s leading EU experts, who yesterday confirmed that, far from having to abandon the deals, “Britain would have existing trade deals in place” from the first day after Brexit. The report says: “Both the EU and the member states are parties to the free trade agreement with the Republic of Korea, concluded in 2011.

“There would be no difficulty in the UK continuing to comply with the obligations of this FTA after Brexit and Korea on a reciprocal basis would have no difficulty continuing to apply these substantive provisions both to the UK and the EU. This step would not require any renegotiation.” Mr Howe added that there was already a legal precedent for this. He said: “It was applied when Czechoslovakia became the Czech Republic and Slovakia. That’s a much more extreme example than Brexit. Those people who are saying it is not true are buying into their own mythology without checking legal facts.” Mr Littlewood added: “What this document asserts is that everything we could need would still be in place on June 24. It is not a reboot on your computer with all the software missing. All the apps will be there.

"This is very important and it needs to be perfectly communicated to the wider electorate. "The nature of the referendum campaign is in my view a decider by the Remain campaign that there will be total uncertainty, and that we will be leaping into a void if we vote to leave. “This report clearly and cogently establishes that the opposite is the case. Thanks to our international arrangement with groups other than the EU we would have everything we could wish for in the event of Brexit, and could negotiate from there. “This could have a decisive impact on how people who are understandably nervous and confused will finally cast their vote on June 23.”

GETTY Britain is already a signatory to more than 50 trade deals

Former Chancellor Lord Lamont said: “This is an authoritative view by eminent lawyers and it accords with what common sense would have determined ought to be the case. “There is no reason to believe that leaving the EU means severing trade ties with third countries overnight. It was always a scare story.” Meanwhile leading economist Yanis Varoufakis yesterday said Britain “needs to be in the EU” to make it more democratic.

GETTY Yanis Varoufakis said Britain 'needs to be in the EU' to make it more democratic