On Thursday we go to the polls to decide if Britain is to be in ‘In’ or ‘Out’ of the European Union. This is a Referendum which will decide our collective futures for a very long time to come.
Some on the left have decided to vote out on the basis of seeing the EU as an imperfect capitalist organisation ( which of course it is) and the fountain of economic liberalism and the austerity that has crippled the Greek, Spanish and Portuguese economies and been the cause of unacceptably high youth unemployment in those countries and Italy.
They seem oblivious to the rights in the workplace such as paid annual leave that are enshrined in EU Law. They clearly are unaware of apprentice training schemes and higher educational opportunities through the Erasmus Scheme which are funded directly through EU money.
Some lefties might be tempted to believe the Leave Campaign’s lies about Britain spending £35O MILLION to access the single market, or the impending membership of Turkey. I hope that they won’t be able to stomach Leave’s inflammatory language and provocative posters around their obsession with immigration. Clearly, Vote Leave have scapegoated immigrants from Europe under the free movement principle, which also gives 2 million Britons a livelihood and life for their families in other European member states such as Germany, France and the Netherlands.
In 2017 Britain has the Presidency of the EU if we stay in. That will enable Britain to lead a push for major reforms in the way the European Union operates.
The really scary feature of an ‘out’ vote on Thursday is that it will put the dangerous right ‘in control’ -it certainly won’t rejuvenate the dynamic left to deliver real economic change. Do you trust Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Iain Duncan-Smith and Nigel Farage with the NHS and rights in the workplace?!
I for one don’t want to wake up on Friday with them in charge. I urge you to Vote In and then push for the social Europe that we all surely want.
Richard Denton-White [email protected]
