Month: June 2016

I, Michael Gowland, want the UK to Remain in the EU because…..

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Say Yes 2 Europe - Remain in the EU

If you are thinking of voting to leave, I ask you to think again. I have not heard either side talk about the biggest problem with leaving: Final Infographic

Almost all of our trade agreements and a large part of our current laws are based on our EU membership. The leave campaign talk as though we can just negotiate new agreements, and they don’t even mention the need to revise a massive proportion of our legislation. But how practical is this really?

Well, an optimistic estimate is that this is going to take well over 10 years. We just don’t have the diplomats and parliamentary time or resources to do it any faster – and even to do it in 10 years will mean doing a bodged job and abandoning the idea of democracy in the form of proper parliamentary oversight and debate as we revise so much of our law.

You…

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Learn From History

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Hatred of migrants, nationalism and economic collapse were the spark that set Europe alight in 1939.  We must learn from history and not let it happen again.

 

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

George Santayana

What Did The EU Ever Do For Us?

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Not much, apart from:

  • Providing 57% of our trade.
  • Structural funding to areas hit by industrial decline.
  • Clean beaches and rivers.
  • Cleaner air.
  • Lead free petrol.
  • Restrictions on landfill dumping.
  • A recycling culture.
  • Cheaper mobile charges.
  • Cheaper air travel.
  • Improved consumer protection and food labelling.
  • A ban on growth hormones and other harmful food additives.
  • Better product safety.
  • Single market competition bringing quality improvements and better industrial performance.
  • Break up of monopolies.
  • Europe-wide patent and copyright protection.
  • No paperwork or customs for exports throughout the single market.
  • Price transparency and removal of commission on currency exchanges across the
  • Eurozone.
  • Freedom to travel, live and work across Europe.
  • Funded opportunities for young people to undertake study or work placements abroad.
  • Access to European health services.
  • Labour protection and enhanced social welfare.
  • Smoke-free workplaces.
  • Equal pay legislation.
  • Holiday entitlement.
  • The right not to work more than a 48-hour week without overtime.
  • Strongest wildlife protection in the world.
  • Improved animal welfare in food production.
  • EU-funded research and industrial collaboration.
  • EU representation in international forums.
  • Bloc EEA negotiation at the WTO.
  • EU diplomatic efforts to uphold the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
  • European arrest warrant.
  • Cross border policing to combat human trafficking, arms and drug smuggling.counter terrorism intelligence.
  • European civil and military co-operation in post-conflict zones in Europe and Africa.
  • Support for democracy and human rights across Europe and beyond.
  • Investment across Europe contributing to better living standards and educational, social and cultural capital.
  • All of this is nothing compared with its greatest achievements: the EU has for 60 years been the foundation of peace between European neighbours after centuries of bloodshed.
  • It furthermore assisted the extraordinary political, social and economic transformation of 13 former dictatorships, now EU members, since 1980.
  • Now the union faces major challenges brought on by neoliberal economic globalisation, and worsened by its own systemic weaknesses. It is taking measures to overcome these. We in the
  • Uk should reflect on whether our net contribution of £7bn out of total government expenditure of £695bn is good value. We must play a full part in enabling the union to be a force for good in a multi-polar global future.

Compiled by Simon Sweeney, a lecturer in International Political Economy at the University of York, and one of the “experts” that the Leave campaign hates so much.

11 reasons why the UK should stay in Europe

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Say Yes 2 Europe - Remain in the EU

An article by Dr Julian Keogh posted here from his own blog Dr Keogh’s thoughts

Whatever the outcome of David Cameron’s negotiations with other European leaders regarding our future relationship with Europe, I am a firm believer we should stay. Here I list some of my most important reasons.

11. Its a bargain

For an organisation that is touted as being such a waste of money, and aspiring to be a superstate in the same breath, it really is a bargain. Less than 1% of national spending goes on the European Union. Compare that to the budget for welfare, pensions and the national health service. Eurosceptics will have us believe that the true value is a lot higher, and while it is certainly true that we are legally obliged to hold VAT within certain limits, that does not mean that all the VAT we pay goes to the European Union……far…

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Why Brexit would be catastrophic for the UK & Europe: a self-indulgent rant on a serious point

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Say Yes 2 Europe - Remain in the EU

I’m not allowed to vote on the Brexit referendum as it’s been over fifteen years since I’ve lived in the UK. I can understand why I might be excluded from local elections, even general elections, given I don’t live there anymore. But I find it pretty scandalous that I can’t express my view on a referendum which will have significant repercussions for the country of my birth and the continent I have lived in for all but six years of my life.

While I’m prone to a rant, I’m not one for political activism. There’s enough of that already in my day job and the other side of my family. But on this issue- and with no vote – I feel compelled to speak out against the blinkered small-mindedness of what seems to be a growing number of my compatriots.

This will be my one and only political stand, I…

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A Personal Perspective – British and Pro European

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My thought exactly.

Say Yes 2 Europe - Remain in the EU

I am British, I was born here and live here, my family is British. I work here and pay taxes here. I love my country, I’m proud of its history, it’s impact on the world, of our Queen and I feel patriotic when I see Britain doing great things within the global community and I also believe in Europe and the European Union. I don’t consider myself European other than in the geo-political sense as I am British but I don’t feel afraid to be part of the something that brings together the countries on this continent that has prevented any further war like our citizens, our parents and our grandparents saw in the two World Wars at the beginning of the 20th Century.

I consider the European Union to be an organisation that is a membership and an investment in 28 countries working together to maintain political harmony…

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