EU REFERENDUM - 5 LIES YOU NEED TO BE AWARE OF!
So, if you’re like me, and you live in the UK, you’ll know that we’re coming up to the referendum soon, where we’ll be deciding whether to stay in the EU or to leave.
Now I was going to keep mostly quiet about this, but in the last few weeks myself, and everyone in my area has had several campaign papers pushed through our letter-box urging us to vote LEAVE in the referendum, and there are things in these papers that I feel important to address.
By this time, if you are planning on voting, you will have probably made up your decision on whether you will be opting to STAY or to LEAVE.
This post is not here to sway that decision, unless you are making it uniformed, or your decision is based on deceit. Please make sure, that when you vote, you are voting for the interests that really suit you, and not for the interests that suit someone who doesn’t represent you.
In a recent LEAVE campaign leaflet, they said the following:
· “Britain’s official bill for EU membership is 19 Billion per year or £350 million every week – the cost of a new hospital.”
FALSE. The EU actually costs us 6.5 Billion last year[1]. That’s £101 per person, in the UK, or £8.41 a month of your tax money which benefits you in a myriad of different ways, including rapid and cheaper advancements in medicine and science, the ability to work, live and retire anywhere within the EU, and lower prices for traded goods in shops, including a lot of food and product[2]. If we chose to leave the EU however, every credible economic source has predicted that the economic consequence of leaving Europe would cause a black hole in the public finances, estimated to be between £20-40 Billion, thus wiping out any savings which could be made, and significantly eating into public services such as the NHS. That’s the cost of 57 hospitals at least.
· “Over a quarter of a million people migrate to the UK from the EU every year, and this puts a strain on our public services.”
FALSE. Immigrants do not, as a whole, put a strain on our public services. This notion is based on the idea that we have 250,000 more people in the country every year, but in 2014, 323,000 people emigrated OUT of the UK, a significant number of those Brits[3]. This number continues to be a fairly stable annually. EU migrants also, statistically, contribute more in taxes than they use in public services, as they are more likely to be of working age, in adverse to the significant number of British retirees, who choose to go abroad.
· “Five new countries are in the queue to join the EU – Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey – we will soon be swamped.”
FALSE. Albania and Turkey are not currently eligible to join the EU, Montenegro is tiny, and there are 27 other countries in the EU for immigrants to choose to live and work, should they decide to leave their home (that’s even IF they are allowed to join the EU). We are also forgetting that that’s 5 new countries that Brits will be free to live, work and retire in too; around 2,500,000 British nationals visit Turkey every year alone[4]. The inclusion of these countries in the EU, if it happens, is unlikely to make any significant difference to the number of people living in the UK.
· “You don’t have to be a member of the EU to trade with it – we could continue easy trade even if we left the EU and open up deals with key allies like Australia, New Zealand and the USA.”
FALSE. We currently benefit hugely from our trade with the EU. Whilst it would be possible to set up new trade agreements if we left the EU, these would likely costs us heavily. At the moment, it is free, and we benefit from trade from over 50 countries around the globe. The EU is also currently in negotiation to include Australia, New Zealand and the USA into the trade agreement, which would make it difficult for us to set up similar trade agreements if we left. Obama has come forward and stated that the USA would be more concerned with setting up trade with the EU, than with Britain, simply because the whole EU is a market of 50 countries, and the UK is one. Brexiters had said we could adopt a similar model to Norway, who are not part of the EU, but still trade within in. However if the UK left the EU, we would not have the same benefits as Norway, as the UK would still be bound by EU regulations[5]. This would cost us significantly, but would leave us without any power to vote or influence the policy or regulations.
· “Being part of the EU means our borders are open and vulnerable.”
FALSE. I am a British national, yet when I returned to the UK, after helping my father retire abroad I was forced, like everyone else, to produce my passport, go through check-in and have my luggage checked. Open Borders does not mean anyone can get in; England is an Island, surrounded by water. Entrances into the UK include flying, the channel tunnel or taking a boat. All of these include check-points and require a passport. If you took a boat, and paddled across the channel, entering the UK in secret, this would be ILLEGAL, and has nothing to do with open borders. The union between police-forces and intelligence across the EU, actually mean that it is harder than ever for criminals or terrorists to pass through into the country.
These are five of the most significant lies that are tied with the LEAVE campaign. The use of fear-mongering on BOTH sides has meant that the truth is difficult to access, thus resulting in an undemocratic campaign, that means to mislead the British public, rather than help them make an informed decision. So here is a basic questionnaire -
Are you part of the rich elite?
Do you have significant savings and a full pension, which would allow you to live comfortably now and for the rest of your life, if you lost your job?
Do you own private and sustainable health-insurance?
- If the answer to all of these is YES, than you are safe if we LEAVE the EU.
Are you working or middle class?
Do you require benefits, in the form of health or financial services?
Are you concerned about the environment and the impact of global warming?
Do you run a small business?
Are you employed in job that involves any form of trade?
Do you like to, or would you like to travel?
Have you been effected by recent budget cuts?
- If you answered YES to any of these, then you may want to consider finding out more about staying IN the EU, and why it benefits you. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself, if you are unsure:
1) Who is campaigning what, and why?
2) Who, of the people campaigning to LEAVE or STAY, best represent me and my interests?
3) Where am I getting my information from? Does it include credible sources, and if not, does the information stand if I fact-check it?
4) Do I fully understand the implications of STAYING or LEAVING the EU, and it how it will affect me?
YOUR VOTE IS YOUR CHOICE – SO MAKE SURE IT’S YOUR VOICE!
[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/eureferendum/12176663/EU-Facts-how-much-does-Britain-pay-to-the-EU-budget.html
[2] http://www.strongerin.co.uk/the_economy#6VJQ3tLfCHLmcfO1.97
[3]http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/bulletins/migrationstatisticsquarterlyreport/2015-05-21
[4] https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/turkey
[5] http://openeurope.org.uk/today/blog/what-would-a-norway-style-relationship-with-the-eu-entail/
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