Vote To Leave the EU -mmmmmmm

Way back in 1975 I voted to leave the EEC but for me it was a 50 50 decision and I had not made up my mind until I entered the voting booth. My head was telling me to stay in and my heart was telling me to leave. At the time I had lots of friends from Australia and they went some way to convincing me that somehow Britain was letting them and the Commonwealth down.

When I came out of the polling booth I realised that I had made a mistake but it was too late to go back and ask for my ballot paper to be changed. I was glad that Britain voted to stay in the EU.

The nation had made an historic decision, one which should have been final. After the vote it was time to get on with our lives: Britain had made a democratic and sovereign decision to remain with our European partners. I never thought for one moment that we would be having the same arguments again.

After the EEC was formed, in 1957, Britain was left out in the economic cold, so it persuaded states such as Norway and Ireland to join EFTA or the European Free Trade Association to act as a counter balance to the EEC. The EEC, however, forged ahead economically; much more than Britain or EFTA. The British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan realised that Britain's economic future lay with the EEC and he started negotiations for Britain to Join the EEC. His ambitions were thwarted when in January 1963 General De Gaulle as president of France said "Non".

Many of the same types of people who now want to leave the EU were rather miffed by the dismissal of Britain's application by De Gaulle.  The British view then was:"why should a foreigner tell Britain what it cannot or can do?". Unfortunately,back then as now, Britain was not economically strong enough to impose its will.

Britain finally joined the EEC in 1973 under the Edward Heath government. The arguments in both the the Labour party and the Conservative party did not stop so the Labour Party prime minister, Harold Wilson, called a referendum to satisfy the demands of leave campaigners. The general population including me were quite happy to agree with the status quo and at the time there was not much popular demand for a referendum.

In 1975 the referendum was held to decide once and for all Britain's fate. I accepted that now Britain had to wholeheartedly take its place in the EU and to a certain extent it  did.

Britain has benefited enormously from its membership of the EU it has progressed both socially, economically and politically. I have benefited from marrying a European and I have worked in European Union without restriction and without any bureaucracy to deal with. The EU has also benefited. Britain helped to reform agricultural and fisheries policies and it has promoted free trade without financial and bureaucratic barriers. Britain was a sad inward looking place in the 1960's and early 1970's; we only had the Beatles to cheer about and they had broken up.

Britain is now a socially progressive and economically vibrant country. So is the EU. Both Britain and the EU have their economic difficulties. It is hubristic for "Brexiters" to claim that the UK is now so much better off than the rest of the EU. Our future in or out of the EU depends upon the success of the EU and if they fall then so will we.

If we had not joined the EU or we had left after the 1975 referendum we would probably have been forced by economics to join the EEA: just like Norway. We would have been paying into the EU coffers to achieve a free trade agreement. We would have had to accept free movement of labour and we would have had to accept that we changed our trading laws to meet EU regulations.

The modern day "Brexiter" would have had to have found other reasons to leave the EEA. And,of course, that would have been immigration. The facts of the matter are that immigration  is very difficult to control. More people come to Britain from outside the EU than from within it. We have absolute control over non-EU immigration but the numbers continue to rise. We just have to accept that Britain is going to attract many immigrants so let's get on with our lives and welcome them.

The Vote Leave economic arguments are failing, so I expect them to concentrate on the fear of immigration to achieve their aims. But the British are not fooled that easily. The benefits of free trade are not outweighed by the dis-benefits if immigration.  Immigrants more than pay their way and they have helped to keep our economy growing during hard economic times. They have skills that we cannot survive without . They keep many businesses going and they help to keep the NHS working.
Without immigrants we would be worse off. If we ask our guests  to get get visas  before they live and work in the UK then the EU will reciprocate. We do not want or need to have a "trade war" in people.

It  seems to me that many "Brexit" politicians want to be big fish in a small pond. They want to tell people what to do . They cannot achieve this in Europe so they want to leave the EU so that they are left alone to push the British around. Their promise that they will control immigration is there just to ensure that Britain will leave the EU.  This promise will be broken either because many of the "Brexiters" do not care about immigration or "real politik" economics will demand the free movement of labour between the EU and Britain.

Britain's economy is too intertwined with the EU for us to leave without pain. Likewise, we have too many people from the rest of the EU to play games with their future. Also, we should recognise that we could be playing fast and loose with the future of the many hundreds of thousands of British citizens who have freely chosen to work or live in the rest of the EU.

The best course of action is to vote to remain and let that be the end of  the referendums.

The one reason for remaining in EU which overrides everything else - Peace.

The EEC, now the EU, was formed  by the six original states: France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg, when they signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957. The EEC officially came into being in 1958.

The reason to create the EEC was not just economic it was also political. It was vital that Europe should not suffer again from the horrors of the two World Wars which started in Europe in the twentieth century. The first world war saw millions of young men dying under horrific conditions in the trenches and front lines. The USA was dragged into the war and so was the British Commonwealth or Empire as it was then.

The League of Nations formed after the First World War failed to prevent the even more horrific and terrifying World War Two. Not only did thousands of service men suffer but millions of civilians suffered death or serious injury. We saw the holocaust where over 6 million innocent Jewish people were murdered because of their race. Hundreds of thousands of innocent Gypsies and Slavic people were murdered because they appeared different. There was an orgy of xenophobic slaughter and war crimes.

Modern day xenophobes would do well to reflect upon this - you could become the victim.

The leaders of Europe did reflect upon this and one of the best ways of preventing the same humanitarian crimes happening again was to form the EEC. The EEC would encourage free trade between the peoples of Europe. Freedom of movement to find work would encourage friendship between the common people of Europe to promote friendship and peace. The ideal was to make war unthinkable not just because the economies of Europe would become intertwined but because the peoples of Europe, at a grass roots level, would create  a political consensus to prevent their leaders from starting unnecessary and cruel wars.

If you look at the last thousand years of European history  we have had uncountable wars culminating in the most cruel war of all: World War Two.  The EU has created an environment of peace between its member states. A peace that has lasted more than fifty years. Britain joined the EU in 1973 and it has enjoyed increasing prosperity and cultural advancement in that time. There have been economic setbacks for both Britain and the rest of the EU. However, in the main, all citizens of the EU have enjoyed peace and security and the prospect of a brighter future if they wanted to work for it.

It is easy for relatively peaceful countries to fall back into war. Yugoslavia and Ukraine are two European examples. When Yugoslavia broke up because of severe nationalist influences we saw war between the former states quickly take hold. We saw war crimes being committed. Within a year a peaceful country had descended into chaos. The former states of Yugoslavia now want to agree a rapprochement. Croatia and Slovenia have already achieved this by joining the EU and now it is the turn of Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia to do the same.  The EU is their key to achieving peace and friendly national relations again.

Ukraine went from hosting the European football championships one year to waging a civil war a couple of years later. The dangers of disunity and xenophobia are clear to all.

Peace does not come easy and it needs to be worked at. The EU, The Ukraine and Russia must come to an agreement to stop the war in the Ukraine and prevent it from ever happening again. Britain can play a constructive and creative role in achieving a peace settlement to improve the security for all of Europe.

It would be a mistake for Britain to leave the EU as it could encourage disunity not just in Britain itself but also in Europe. Dark forces could arise once more to spoil progress.

In June, we shall be voting to remain or leave the EU; we will not be voting to ban or restrict immigration. I am afraid to say that the British population is being manipulated by fear of immigration to leave the EU.

Of course, the mass migration of people creates problems but schools, hospitals and other infrastructure can be built to mitigate the economic effects of immigration and emigration. We can plan for this. We already have a clear idea of how many people will be living in our country in 2030. We can build our infrastructure based on the extra wealth that immigrants from Europe and other countries create. We are not helpless; we are a resourceful and well organised country and we can easily accommodate the workers coming here if we have the will to do it.

What is the point of complaining about people who come to work in Britain and pay their way and contribute?Why not welcome them and do something to improve their lives? Many of the foreign workers will return home. It would be better if they went home with a good feeling about the British. Economies perform in cycles and our cycle is out of synchronisation with the rest of Europe. One day the tables will be turned and British workers may feel the need to emigrate to the rest of Europe to find employment. Freedom of movement to work is a precious commodity so lets not lose it or waste it because of animosity between neighbours.

It is difficult to mitigate the effects of disliking or even hating people from neighbouring countries and if we allow ourselves and the people of Europe to become xenophobic because of our actions then we are treading into dangerous territory once again.

I say to the people who want to leave the EU because you do not like foreigners that you should think again and be careful what you wish for. Despite the difficulties the future will be brighter for both you and your children and grand children if we stay united to our friends across the channel.

Peace needs hard work. Above, all it needs good will towards your neighbours and a willingness to cooperate with them in a sense of enlightened self-interest. Why not vote for continuing peace?

EU Remain campaign needs some big hitters from all the political parties

The Remain campaign is faltering and is failing to counter much of the propaganda  of the Leave campaigns. " Vote Leave" passion and misrepresentation of the facts is triumphing over reason and a hard headed consideration of why we should remain in the EU out of enlightened self-interest. It appears that the only passionate political voice to remain is coming from David Cameron. No other party leaders are setting aside factional interests to support him. The Labour party leadership is very lukewarm and the Liberal leadership seems embarrassed to raise its voice.

I am fearful that if no other leaders are prepared to make a passionate but cogent and reasoned case for remaining in the EU then Britain will vote to leave. We will then face government by people who have misrepresented the EU and how it operates to the British people.

The EU Commission does not and cannot dictate to any member state what to do. The European Council of Ministers and the European parliament make European Law. The Council of Ministers is the main power broker and it consists of the elected heads of government of all the member states. The EU Commission just acts like the British civil service.

The EU does not dictate to us how we run our affairs; we still retain the Monarchy, the House of Lords, the House of Commons, our own Judicial System, the established Church of England and the NHS. None of these institutions have been in any danger from the EU since we joined in 1973.

Silly myths about EU interference in our major laws or way of life have been perpetrated by malign politicians and newspapers, but now some of these have been debunked by the House of Commons Treasury Committee. The EU has not banned children under 8 from blowing up balloons. It has not banned Britain from re-cycling teabags and it has not legislated for a one size fits all coffin. It is time that we had a grown up debate devoid of pettifogging.

There are many problems which Britain and the EU have to solve. How do we replace the failed economic model of neo-liberalism and with what – Keynesianism, Democratic Socialism or enlightened Capitalism? How do we solve the abuse of corporate power? How do we provide good well paid jobs for all our citizens? How do we provide good health services and how do we pay for them? How do we provide for a good clean environment? How do we maintain the peace that the EU has promoted in Europe for the last 50 years?

We need to solve the problem of refugees. The only way we can stop this humanitarian crisis is to stop the wars. The EU did not start any war and it is disingenuous for “Brexiters” to claim that the EU is responsible for this almost insoluble humanitarian issue.

From a security point of view it is obvious that we need to co-operate fully with our European partners; but we will not be able to do this as effectively outside of the EU.

Britain and Europe are stronger if we tackle our common problems together. We all have a shared history. We share the same, cultural, social and political values.  We can solve all these problems together and make a more prosperous and peaceful future. Where is the “Brexiter” vision of the future? There isn't one. Waving the flag and crying that: “we have got the world’s 5^th biggest economy” is simply not good enough.

If we vote to leave the EU then what guarantee do we have that the politicians that replace David Cameron will pay much attention to Britain and its place in the world? Out of political malice the “Brexiters” might do nothing more than promote their own self-interest. Their political colours and attitudes have been exposed by their egregious misrepresentations.  Britain will be left alone without a vision for its future but worst of all its unemployed, sick and disabled will be left to fend for themselves but without hope.

The Remain politicians must rise to the challenge.  Britain’s future in the hands of the “Brexiters” looks bleak.

Without the EU Britain's power in the world will be seriously weakened

Below is the text of a letter that I sent to a major "Brexit" newspaper; it was not published of course.

The business affairs of Tata Steel UK demonstrate the weakness of Britain’s economic position when it tries to act alone and not in concert with our European partners. China is dumping cheap steel into world markets and this form of commercial activity could destroy steel production in many countries including our own.

The United States has imposed a tariff on Chinese steel to nip dumping onto the American market in the bud. The EU Commission has proposed that the European Union deploys “Trade Defence Instruments (TDI)” to protect our European steel industry. Britain has blocked this. And, of course, the Commission is powerless to over-rule Britain.

Britain has been trying to attract Chinese investment in infrastructure projects in the UK. Perhaps I am being churlish to suggest that Britain’s arm was twisted to block the EU deployment of a TDI against the dumping of Chinese steel.

Tata has decided to abandon steel production in the UK against a backdrop of competing with cheap Chinese steel imports into the EU. Its only interest, quite rightly, is protecting the investment of its shareholders. No amount of flag waving or making claims that Britain has the “5^th biggest economy in the world” is going to cut any ice. Tata would have been expecting Britain to support European measures to ward off steel dumping.

Tata UK would also have been considering the commercial consequences of Britain’s possible exit from Europe. Would its executives be allowed to travel freely in Europe or would they end up in long queues at airports? Worse still, would an EU free of British intervention impose a TDI on British as well Chinese Steel? Tata UK wants to know what Britain’s plans are if we are to exit the EU. “It will be all right on the night” is not good enough. It is no wonder that Tata Steel is quitting Britain; the politicians advocating departure from the EU have no vision or economic strategy for our future outside of Europe.

There is no doubt that potential buyers will be calculating the profits or losses to be made from buying a UK steel industry which is cut off from major markets in Europe, the US, and China either by tariffs, price competition or the restricted movement of its executives. Will a potential buyer take such an investment risk? I fear for the future of steel production in the UK, and I fear for the future of the thousands of jobs and the hundreds of small businesses that depend upon a solution for steel.

Yes, Britain has got the world’s 5th largest economy with a GDP of around USD 3 trillion dollars pa. The US has a GDP of over USD 17 trillion and China over USD 10 trillion pa. Our economy is dwarfed in comparison. Britain on its own has very little economic power to influence events in its own favour.

  

The EU is the 2nd largest economic block in the world with a GDP of around USD 16 trillion pa. If we vote for Brexit the remaining combined GDP of the European Union will be around USD 13 trillion pa. We will be competing against another massive economy. What hope have we got to negotiate more favourable trading terms with these economic giants than we have got now?

Given the enormity of the opposition, would it not be better to remain in one of the biggest economic clubs and co-operate to protect the commercial interests of all member states of the EU? Every citizen of the UK should carefully consider the economic consequences of Brexit.  Flag waving and exaggerated patriotism will not earn us an international crust of bread.