We asked our political pundit Paddy Tully what a vote to leave the EU might mean for British mountain bikers.
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So, like us, you’re probably already bored of the endless noise surrounding the EU referendum and the non-factual ‘facts’ that both the Leave and the Remain campaigns are spouting. So bored that you’re wondering if you’re even going to bother going to the polling station on Thursday 23rd June, right?
As we lurch closer and closer to the vote, it’s becoming harder to separate fact from fiction and understand what will actually happen if we either leave or remain in the EU.
We’re going to try and understand how a vote to leave the EU might affect you, the Great British Mountain Biker…
The cost of US Imports
So you want to win world cups like Greg Minnaar? You’ll need a Santa Cruz V10 or something like that. They’re expensive bikes, and their import will be covered by the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) currently being negotiated between the EU and the US.
It’s hoped that this will make imports from the States cheaper, saving you money. The US has already indicated that if the UK were to leave the EU it would go to the bottom of the list of countries it’s negotiating trade deals with – those expected savings will be a long way off.
European Union imports
So you can’t stretch to a Santa Cruz – the next best thing is perhaps something from Europe like a Canyon or a YT? Both these companies make savings by selling direct to consumers from their bases in the EU.
Currently we don’t pay import tax on goods bought within the EU. This could change as a result of a vote to leave – they official campaign are saying they would negotiate a free trade agreement but this is far from a given. Again, short term, things are likely to get more expensive.
And … UK Exports
The UK has a number of high value component and bicycle manufacturers – Hope, Orange, Renthal etc. What do we think will happen to those after the referendum?
If I’m totally honest, I think the impact on small UK manufacturers like this will be limited. They all make low volume, high value products which are already sold to a niche market.
That niche market will still exist whatever the result and given the already high cost of the products would we notice a few percent price rise in the case of a vote to leave the EU? Probably not. Would these manufacturers notice? Well, they might have to pay more to sell outside the EU, but again the market for these products will probably swallow these costs. There’s some interesting reading here on CyclingIndustry.news.
Freedom of travel
So you’re going to Morzine this summer to hit up the Pleney (like Joel in the video above)? Do you need a visa? No you don’t. Does your Australian mate need one? Of course he does. It’s another hassle that we don’t have as members of the EU. It’s easy, convenient and relatively inexpensive to travel to France, Spain, Italy, Madeira and all of those popular mountain biking countries that we know and love.
Now again, the leave campaign say they will negotiate to keep this benefit, but it’s not a given and we’re not sure what compromises they’ll need to make to do this. How will it effect that holiday you’ve booked this August? No idea.
European Health Insurance Card
Remember that time you did one last run of the Pleney at Morzine, cased a jump hard, got bucked from your bike and broke your collar bone? Remember how that trip to a French hospital didn’t cost you anything (either at the time or through claiming it back from the NHS afterwards) despite you not bothering to take out travel insurance?
That was thanks to a reciprocal agreement across the EU to provide medical care to the same level as provided in your home country (a French citizen would have had to paid a small amount for the same treatment in the same hospital that you got fixed up in).
It’s true that Switzerland and Iceland both benefit from the EHIC card and neither are in the EU – so it’s possible that this won’t be an issue. But there’s no guarantee that such an agreement will continue in the case of a vote to leave the EU. It might, but it might not.
Cash to build nice things
So according to the leave campaign EU membership costs us £350m a week (technically it doesn’t as we get about £100m straight back as a rebate, read more here). If we left we could spend that money on building new hospitals or paying the Forestry Commission to build new trail centres, right?
It’s not so clear actually, although we do send money as a nation to Brussels, we also get a lot of that back in subsidies and other forms of support.
For example, the excellent 1 South West programme built a load of trail centres and other facilities in the South West was part funded by the EU. Bike Park Wales, which you all know and love, received ERDF funding from the EU. Cognation, setup to invest in mountain biking facilities in Wales (including Bike Park Wales), is part funded by the EU.
Would this type of funding be given out by central government if we were to vote leave? I can’t say either way, you’re going to have to make your own minds up on this one.
Last but not least … Age of voters
Assuming you’re in Wideopen’s target audience (and that Wideopen has a target demographic), you’re probably on the right side of 40. It’s been shown many times that old people tend to vote more than young people.
Think about it – who is it going to affect more? You with many years ahead of you or the older generation?
It’s a potential change that will have an impact on you for the rest of your life, don’t let it be decided by those who will only see the change for a short period of time. Everyone’s vote matters, of course, but make sure that you don’t let someone else who may have very different interests from you make the decision on your behalf.
(just to be clear – we don’t really have a target age group – we love readers of all ages ;-) – Ed)
