[hibeejim21]

But they didn't give it an adverse opinion which is what some are saying they are trying to hide. This 'they haven't had the accounts signed off in 20 years' is a total lie.

The most recent report gives a qualified opinion that “A significant part of the 2016 expenditure audited was not affected by a material level of error”.

They stress around 3% of their budget was not used according to the rules,but that is "not a measure of fraud, inefficiency or waste"

Jim, your selective quotes are accurate, but it doesn't alter the fact that my selective quotes are equally correct.

In fact the report says that "About half of 2016 expenditure is free from material error". What it conveniently omits to say is that just over half is not free from material error. The report also states that there is a materiality error of 4.8% (approx. 3bn Euros) in re-imbursement payments and it also goes on to give examples of such errors and the reporting of 11 fraud cases directly discovered by their audit.

That figure is lower than most national budgets ritchie. Perspective please.

Material error arises from things like a missing supporting document or the incorrect application of rules (these were the two main causes of material error noted by the auditors). Material error is an accounting term and it does NOT mean fraud or waste.

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So lets see these 'different reasons'. For most leave voters it was EU immigration that was the issue and the stats back that up. The elderly and people with low education tended to support it most. People were clearly scared that foreigners would take the jobs that they don't tend to want anyway.

I visited poland last year and was surprised at the standard of living,and their wages have increased 30% in the last few years whilst ours have fallen by what 13% ? And how has this been achieved ? Its due to the EU working to standardise living standards in its member states, the numbers of EU immigrants were going to fall naturally. The real issue is non-EU immigration which is about to rise again steadily, especially after we do these much vaunted new trade deals. With our ageing population and demographic its the only way. And then what happens ?

I agree that immigration was the hot topic behind a lot of people's vote, I also agree that that is a red herring because we control that anyway due to the way we operate, so coming out of the EU won't change that unless the government decides to change it.  People have always been scared about Johnny Foreigner coming into our country and taking our jobs, you see that in Germany now, previous French governments have often talked about it and the US is completely divided on the whole issue and has been for many years.  Those fears will not go away and until someone can come up with a coherent argument that disproves this whole notion it will continue to be an issue.

You paragraph about Poland though for me is exactly one of the reasons why some people want out of the EU!!  The EU want to standardize living standards across member states you say, that is a laudable objective and something that makes perfect sense.  But to state Poland's wages have gone up 30% while in the UK they have dropped 13% is exactly the sort of stats that prove the UK needs to get out of the EU!!!  The EU over the last couple of decades has added a bunch of much poorer states to their membership such as Poland, Romania, Hungary, Greece etc, and if as you suggest the goal is to improve those countries then they have to find ways to do that but not at the expense or to the detriment of the original wealthier countries!!  Imagine how the leave campaign would spin those numbers, three cheers for Poland, sorry Mr UK Citizen you wages are dropping but at least its benefiting our brothers in Poland!!!

I am sure and I agree that that isn't the whole story but unless someone refutes the figures that you state then you can see how those sort of stats would leave people cold at the idea of supporting the EU.

Its not even part of the story though SCO.

The UK wage levels could comfortably be higher than they are,but the conservative government has been forcing austerity policies for some time now and that has forced wages and living standards lower. Not anything the EU has done.

The EU in helping the eastern european nations adjust is actually in all our interests going forward. Comparing them with the UK - one of the worlds richest economies in that context doesn't really work.