The Brexit route to the land of milk and honey and opportunity

I am a Remain supporter. I have no intention of answering any comment from a Leave supporter as I shall not be able to convince you otherwise.

Those wavering about how to vote should consider the following.

In 1975 when we had the last referendum I voted to leave the EEC. It was a fifty-fifty decision for me and when I left the voting booth I realised I had voted with my heart rather than with my head and I had made a mistake.

At the time the vote was considered to be a once in a lifetime event and if Britain had voted to leave I fully expected that to be irrevocable.

In 1975 it would have been possible to disentangle ourselves from the EEC as it was then with relative ease. Now it will be a problem as Britain is intertwined with the EU both economically, socially and culturally.

Before we joined the EEC, in 1973, Britain was considered as the sick man of Europe. We suffered from inflation, balance of payments problems, runs on the pound and industrial strife.

Our country has changed enormously and we have caught up with our European neighbours who before 1973 were surging ahead and out competing us.

Now some members of the political establishment are trying to remove us from the EU project. These members of the establishment have very similar attitudes now as then.  When General De Gaulle said “Non” when we first applied to join the EEC in the 1960s the attitude was: “How dare Johnny Foreigner tell us what to do”? It was the clarion call.

The EU Commission does not dictate policy to any European state. It drafts legislation and implements it. The legal and political decisions are made by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. The Council of Ministers consists of the elected heads of government of all EU states and the European Parliament.  Not perfect but consider this: Britain’s House of Lords is not elected. Our Head of State is not elected and anyway all of the monarch’s powers are stripped away to be delegated to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet: without a vote. Where is the British democracy in all this?

We have not lost any sovereignty from being part of the EU. We share our sovereignty. We have shared our sovereignty for years with Ireland since they became independent. We have had a common travel area with Ireland and Irish citizens are legally not regarded as foreigners in the UK and vice versa. We can vote in each other’s elections for parliament when we take up residence. The common travel area has worked well for Britain and Ireland for decades just as the EU has worked well for Britain and all other member states.

We pool our sovereignty with Nato and if Iran attacks Turkey we are legally obliged to come to their assistance; you or your sons and daughters might be called up to die on Turkey’s behalf. I presume “Brexiters” want us to regain our sovereignty and leave Nato too: sorry they don’t and their hypocrisy is exposed.

Britain is an integral part of the EU. Yes, we do contribute 350 million a week to the budget but much of this is returned to us directly. The rest of our money is invested in the EU and we benefit from this indirectly. It is not just us and them as Britain has considerable say on how the EU budget is spent and invested.

Californian citizens contribute more to the USA budget than Wyoming citizens do, but Californians do not whinge about this as the have to foresight and generosity to help poorer states in an enlightened form of self-interest.

Yes, there is free movement of labour and this is a good thing. The EU is based on the principles of free movement of capital, goods, services and labour. You can’t have free movement of capital, goods and services without the free movement of labour. Britain will not get a free trade agreement with Europe unless it agrees to free movement of labour.

David Cameron was right; the EU was formed to promote peace in European after decades of vicious war. The EU works to maintain the peace within Europe’s borders. No two fully democratic states have gone to war with each other. All EU members must be democratic states before they join. The spread of democracy encourages peace.

The EU has been a source of inspiration for Britain since the dark days of 1972 and we are now reasonably well placed economically. But there are clouds on the horizon. If the EU or the US falls then they take us with them. We cannot afford to be hubristic as the difficult days of 2008 and 2009 could return for us and our partners. We need to leverage off the strength of the US and the EU and promote sustainable growth in the West in a spirit of co-operation.

The “Brexiters” have no plan for what will happen if we leave the EU. They are in disagreement about immigration, free trade and freedom of movement and this is not a good prospect for a political and economic settlement with the rest of the EU or the US. I might have been prepared to vote Leave and go for the Norwegian option if it meant that all the squabbling would stop. There is no plan other than it will be alright on the night. Vote Leave is not an option for me.

It won’t be alright on the night. If we impose work permits, visas or restrictions and extra taxes on EU citizens after we leave, then EU will do the same to us. There are hundreds of thousands of UK citizens who live and work or retire happily in the rest of the EU so why make life more difficult for them?

The claim that Britain is the 5^th richest country in the world and that we can do what we like with the EU which will bend over and give us what we want, is rubbish. Since the end of the Second World War our power to act alone has been declining. If you want evidence of this then read the history of the 1956 Suez crisis when the UK invaded Egypt which went against  US geo-political interests. The US forced Britain to withdraw by merely hinting that that they would sell UK government bonds to cause a run on the pound.

 The US sees Britain’s membership of the EU as part of their geo-political interests and they will not take too kindly to us leaving so they will stall a trade agreement.

Wise up - Britain is no longer a global power, we cannot throw our weight around either economically or militarily; we need to be part of strong economic blocks and alliances. We cannot act alone.

If we leave the EU the sun will not shine forever on the British. The promise of economic nirvana with "Brexiters" leading the way is an empty one. 

If you want to see the pound plummet on the 24^th of June 2016 and our financial services industry disappear to Frankfurt and New York then vote leave.

"Brexiter" implies that Britain will be less secure if we leave the EU

A leading "Brexiter" has proposed that prime minister David Cameron should immediately introduce emergency security legislation to protect the security of the UK upon leaving the EU. Why would the prime minister need to do this if, as the "Brexit" campaign contends, Britain will be safer when we leave the EU?

This proposal is ill conceived nonsense.

What are the hidden dangers of leaving the EU ? Please would the "Brexit" campaign like to inform us all?

It is irresponsible that we should break our treaty obligations just to go it alone on security  and immigration during the period when we negotiate an exit from the EU. Who would trust a country that reneges on its treaty obligations? Would the US trust us to be a loyal NATO member? How would reneging on our treaty obligations make us safer?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-3577984/Gove-Laws-strengthen-UKs-borders-follow-quickly-Brexit.html

Since 1973, when the UK and Ireland joined the EU, the only EU citizens who have been involved in terrorists atrocities in our islands have been from the United Kingdom or Ireland . Some 3,000 citizens were killed by terrorists related incidents during the Northern Ireland troubles. The victims were killed, in the main, by UK born terrorists. The 2005 terrorists attacks perpetrated in London were were made by UK citizens. Michael Gove seems to have conveniently forgotten this history.

During the Northern Ireland troubles the British and Irish people were sensible enough not to have demanded that we suspended the Common Travel Area between our countries, or that we should have deported British or Irish citizens, or erected a border fence between the North and South of Ireland. The Northern Ireland troubles were resolved by two independent states pooling their sovereignty to cooperate on security and above all to improve the political process that led to peace. If  Britain and Ireland had buried their heads in the sand then the Northern Ireland troubles would have continued until this day.

The overwhelming majority of EU citizens who live in the UK are peaceful and law abiding and they are not a threat to national security. The EU, and its citizens, is no more of a threat to Britain than Ireland is.

In the UK about 6,000 people die from accidents in the home. This means that since 2005 about 60,000 people have died from accidents where they feel safe. It is far more dangerous to stay at home than run the gauntlet of terrorism on the streets of the UK. Who are the real scaremongers the prime minister or the "Brexiteers"? We need to have a sense of proportion about the dangers of terrorism and not use it as part of a political blame culture.

The British police and their colleagues in MI5, MI6 and GCHQ have worked very effectively to keep us safe from malicious terror. We shall be safer still if we co-operate fully with the EU - just as we do with the US and Canada. If we have to pool some sovereignty to do this, just as we pool our sovereignty with NATO, then I am all in favour. Britain makes a considerable contribution to the safety and security of Europe. A safer Europe means a safer UK. The safety of Europe will not be improved by Britain leaving the EU.