Firstly I’d like to start with an admission; I’m not a fan of the EU. I believe the European Parliament & council are overly self-obsessed & a bureaucracy nightmare.
However so is Westminster and I’m not an advocate for abandoning London & central government for local/regional rule.
What I fell is important are the big questions; how do we improve the environment? How do we ensure future world peace? How do we feed the ever increasing world population? Reduce the increasing power of faceless corporations? These questions I don’t believe can be answered without international cooperation. The world’s largest governmental committees, the European Union, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the Commonwealth, all need to play their part & to have a say not only in these organisations but to help mould them is so important. Leaving the EU risks our position in many not just one.
The ability to shape, mold & influence these global bodies is so important if the UK is to lead the way on climate change, social mobility & Human Rights. We cannot afford to reduce our influence & allow parties less interested in the future of the human race & more about money to mold our children’s futures.
Now I know this is a difficult point to build on given the current government & their seeming lack of support for such measures, however historically the British have been leaders in a fair & just society. There have been many crimes along the way, but some wrong have been addressed.
Furthermore I’d ask you to think about why leaving is a good idea?
If it is just about sovereignty then I sort of understand. However how many decisions taken in Westminster do you agree with, or even know about? Decisions for the supposed greater good, which often lead to more power for the few, to increase profits of international corporations. I honestly don’t see how the decisions of a few UK MP’s is any better than the MEP’s EU parliament. Why would a sense of justice and law & order be different in, Spain, Germany, Greece or here in the UK.
Is it immigration? Again I understand, we live on an island, there is only every going to be infinite number of people who can live here. But & this is important, we are nowhere near that limit yet. Yes it is crowed in the south & London in particular, but there millions of empty houses north of the M4 corridor, Hundreds of brownfield site all over the country, which is developed sensibly could provide thousands of houses. This issue on overcrowding is the based on the fundamental lack of investment in infrastructure in the past 30 years. We don’t have enough schools, we don’t have enough hospitals & libraries. Too much economic growth has been allowed to happen in the south of the UK, without an investment or incentives to enable growth outside London & the Home Counties. But there are Jobs for EU citizen economic migrants. On average they pay more in tax than they take out in benefits & services. They won’t be here if there were not the jobs, which means if we leave the EU who does those jobs? Also to gain full access to the common market, will involve a concession to free labour movement. We could be out & not be able to influence the changes made to an treaties, but having to leave with them.
Illegal immigration is an issue; however that won’t change if we leave the EU. Arguable it could get worse as we’d have to manage our own borders more stringently as we wouldn’t have the EU joint task force to assist. We wouldn’t have that buffer zone.
Is it the economy? I’ve heard arguments that we would be stronger outside of Europe. Many more that we can’t be, that Britain is too small. This, I believe is too difficult to predict. We should be able to continue to trade without too many penalties with Europe, we are growing exports outside of Europe. However both are unknown & the unknown is what makes the financial markets nervous & this usually leads to a lack of investment & reduction in growth. Long term is might turn around. But I expect short term; the uncertainty will hit everyone & cause a crash which could take a decade to recover from. With the delicate balance of the world economy it, for me is a risk too far.
So why stay in, sadly the best argument is because we don’t want will happen if we leave & being in the EU is not actually that bad. However both are so completing points, it doesn’t have to be about anything else. Ideologically are you in favour of promoting the greater good, or are you all about self. Being a member of EU is about promoting the greater good. Yes it needs reform, but we’ll always be influenced by the decision they make. I truly believe it is better to have a seat at the table & be involved, than not & have to comply anyway.
Finally I implore everyone to double check whether you can vote, go online check you’re registered. Then actually exercise your right & pay a visit to the polling booth on Thursday 23rd June
Benjamin Pantling
