My thoughts on the EU..
The EU - Right to Reside
An unskilled person from Spain, Romania or any other EU country, who speaks very little English and who would require benefit support, has the right to live in the UK. This person would most likely have a negative effect on our economy for a long period of time but we are unable to stop them residing in the UK.
A doctor or highly skilled engineer from Africa or South America, who speaks fluent English and who didn't need benefit support, must go through a huge amount of cost and red tape to attain that same right. Yet this person would most likely have a positive effect on our economy.
(https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa)
Which type of immigration do you think is best for the UK?
The EU - Funding and Responsibility
Approximately two thirds of the money we give to the EU is distributed within the EU, away from the UK. The other third we get back with certain instructions on how to spend it. (https://fullfact.org/europe/our-eu-membership-fee-55-million/)
Could we not carry on funding the same things we are told to fund right now and at the same time also have double the amount of money again to spend on extra things we would like to spend it on.
If the government in power didn't fund the same things as the EU previously did and it upset people then we have the right to remove that government at the next general election, something we can't do if the EU started changing their funding priorities.
We lose our right to true democracy while remaining a member of the EU.
The EU - Buying/Selling to the EU
The UK is the EU’s largest single export market in goods, if you treat the UK as if it were outside the EU. The United States is a close second. (https://fullfact.org/europe/where-does-eu-export/).
At this very moment the EU is pressing ahead with TTIP, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the USA. This is something that will enable the USA and the EU to trade closer than ever before. If EU trade with the UK is actually bigger than the USA then is it not reasonable to assume the EU would also want to work closely with us to set up a mutual beneficial trading partnership if we were to leave.
The world contains 7.4 billion people, the EU only about 0.5 billion. We should be focusing our efforts on increasing trade with the other 6.9 billion people in the world. As mentioned above the EU would lose it's biggest single export market should it decide to impose strict trading conditions. Judging by the delicate state of the EU at the moment why would they risk causing an economic disaster across the EU by doing this?
We are the 5th largest economy in the world; Germany is 4th and France 6th. If France decided to leave the EU do you think for a single second Germany would stop trading with France or try and make it unnecessarily difficult? It doesn't make any sense whatsoever to take this course of action.
The EU - Freedom of Movement
Recently I went to Mexico. I was given a visa form on the plane, it took less than 5 minutes to complete. At border control I gave them my passport and my visa form. They stamped it and I was allowed in to the country for a predetermined length of time.
If this is as difficult as it will be to travel to Europe then I believe that to be a very small inconvenience to allow greater control over our borders.
Short term visits to other European countries, for business or pleasure, will not be a problem if we leave the EU. Border controls are more about deciding who we wish to allow to reside in our country, do they have a skill we need, do they have a clean criminal record, etc.
The EU - Economic Impact
If we leave the EU then in the short term it will probably have a negative effect. However the average person wouldn't feel this in their day to day lives. The medium to long term impact of higher wages, more sensible house prices (less overseas buyers and less immigration reducing the pressure on housing stock) would be worth it I believe.
If we choose to leave then the day after the referendum the stock market will likely fall and the pound will likely lose value. This is despite us not actually leaving the EU for perhaps another 2 years. Stock markets hate uncertainty, that is all. Things will recover once stability sets in and I genuinely believe over the medium to long term we will see the economic benefits of leaving the EU.
The vast majority of organisations who say we will suffer if we leave the EU also said that we would suffer by not adopting the EU as our currency. They were wrong, they were 100% incorrect.
P.S - Most of these organisations receive a generous amount of EU funding.
The EU - Final Comments
Always follow the money. Often the people we see on television from 'xyz organisation' who wish to remain in the EU generally have a financial interest for remaining in the EU. From politicians to the owners of multi-national corporations, the EU is a cash cow for the elite.
The EU has made some fantastic improvements to workers’ rights, living standards, etc. However who can say with certainty we wouldn't have made the same improvements over the last 40 years if we hadn't been in the EU?
Ask people in Greece how the EU is working for them. If they weren't in the EU they would be able to devalue their currency to increase exports and attract tourism. This would bring down unemployment and help stabilise their economy. Being in the EU prevents this from happening.
Add to this the 'freedom of movement' aspect which means for over a year Greece has been a stepping stone for people wishing to get from Greece, through Europe, to Germany. People have died because Angela Merkel, without the support of other EU member states, decided to allow anyone who reached Germany to be accepted for asylum. If they wanted to help the refugees why didn't they pick people up from western Turkey and transport them directly to Germany? Why make people cross dangerous seas and then the entire continent of Europe?
It's a shambles. It’s discriminatory. It’s undemocratic. It’s the EU.
Who Am I?
I'm a nobody really. I'm not a politician, I don't have a preferred political party, I don't have an important job and don't come from a wealthy family. I'm just one of millions of 'ordinary people' in the UK who's voices rarely get heard in the mainstream media.
From what I've seen in the media all 'brexiteers' are angry, uninformed and appear to have a hint of racism about them. Well media, I'm a brexiteer, am I angry, uninformed, racist? Please feel free to point out anything I have said above that supports that viewpoint.
I believe most people who want to leave the EU are working class, therefore they probably have very little background in debating. They may struggle sometimes to get their point across elegantly. This doesn't mean their point of view is any less valid.
Many of the Remainers on TV are politicians or work in large organisations. Their day to day lives involve having debates, attending important business meetings and conferences. Of course they are going to be more skilled in putting their point across. This doesn't mean their point is more valid than someone who is unable to do that.
For example: I saw on the BBC recently a woman was asked why she was voting Leave. Her response was 'It's cos of all them immigrants'. That's all she said. At first glance that appears exactly how the media want it to appear. However, just think for a moment if she had said the following:
'Well recently I had to wait 3 weeks for a doctor's appointment due to the large population growth in my area, my daughter was moved down the council house waiting list 3 times due to EU citizens arriving in the local area who needed social housing and my local butcher now only sells Halal meat, which I disapprove of as a slaughter method.'
Does this still sound racist or are they facts that this lady see's in her everyday life which have a real impact on her and her family?
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Every vote counts in the upcoming referendum.