Would NZ do better if UK was not in the EU?

The Herald reports:

Europe is stronger with Britain in it and if New Zealand wasn’t so far away it would want to join such a union, Prime Minister John Key says.

Both those statements are true.

However the question for the UK is not whether the EU is stronger by having Britain in it, but whether Britain is stronger being in the EU.

Likewise the issue for NZ isn’t what is better for the EU, but what is better for NZ.

I think you could argue that if the UK was not in the EU, it would be better for New Zealand.

Some of the recent restrictions on Kiwis working in the UK are because the UK is trying to limit immigration from the EU. If they were not in the EU, then those restrictions on Kiwis would probably not have been put in place.