To stay or go!

I have just spent 10 minutes reading the government leaflet on why I should vote to remain in the EU.  Probably a selfish view to take but I looked at the arguments from my personal point of view and the future of my grandchildren.

I honestly don’t believe that whether the UK joins the euro or not will have a huge impact on us, as ordinary people, nor would the government’s commitment to reduce EU red tape.

I think one of the worrying things about staying is that EU law overrules UK law in a conflict between national law and EU law.  Scary!

I assume that we are still able to trade with the EU, even if we are not a member but how it would affect the many UK companies which are already owned by France, Germany etc, I don’t know.

The government say that by leaving the EU there would be a risk of higher prices of some household goods and would damage living standards.  In a country where there is supposedly “child poverty” already and food banks, how much worse can it get?

The government predicts 10 years of uncertainty if we leave the EU.  Again, it can’t be much worse than the uncertainty we have lived through over the last 10 years and surely there would be some “job creation” for people who would have to “unpick” the relationship with the EU and renegotiate with countries around the world.

On immigration, which seems to be a big issue particularly on the question of benefits, the government say that new migrants “will not have full access to certain benefits until they have worked here for up to four years.”  I think “full” is the operative word here.  I am confused as I understood that child benefit is paid to anyone, migrant or otherwise, if he or she has a child.  A good incentive to come over to the UK to have a child? – I don’t know.

With more countries, such as Turkey, Serbia, Albania under consideration for membership, I fear that this island will sink!

We as a country pay around £350M a week to the EU budget!  The government says that what this country gets back in “opportunities, job creation and economic security” far outweighs this cost!  I would like to see some statistics on that!

I was in favour of joining the Common Market back in the early 1970’s.  However, the Common Market has evolved into something which controls our decisions more and more and restricts trade with countries such as Australia and the USA.

I need to see some more arguments for/against before I decide but I just hope everyone will vote in this referendum for the sake of their future and that of future generations.