Am Eurosceptic,
Will Vote Remain!

I am a lifelong Eurosceptic and I will be voting Remain on Thursday. Below I intend to explain my thinking as clearly as I can in the hope that other Eurosceptics will also vote to remain part of the EU.

I have always viewed the EU with suspicion and occasional hostility. I have ranted many times to anyone who would listen about the centralisation and expansion of power in Brussels. I have criticised the appointment, rather than the election, of people to powerful positions within the EU. I have criticised the Euro, the march towards a Super state, the Strasbourg Travelling Circus, the tame response to Russian intimidation and the naval-gazing which sees the EU devote far too much attention to its member’s internal affairs when it should be facing the other way and working for us all internationally.

But that does not mean I wish to leave because there is plenty to celebrate about life as part of the EU – though you wouldn’t know it given the incompetent, negative and damn near disastrous campaign, the Remain side have been running over the past couple of months!

We don’t Have an EU Immigration Problem: We have Free Movement of People

There has been a huge amount of hysteria during the campaign over immigration from the EU and most of it has been absurd, if not offensive. We have guaranteed Free Movement of People within a Single Market and we should be fighting to keep it!

To some, free movement of people around the EU is a reason to leave. In my opinion, it is the primary reason to stay and one of the few aspects of the European Union that I can feel genuinely enthusiastic about – despite never having worked abroad myself. What the single market and free movement create is a fluid workforce and what that means is that people have the right to move around the EU to find work wherever they choose and this is a wonderful thing.

Over the last few years, hundreds of thousands of people have come from all over the EU to work in Britain because the British economy is doing very well relative to much of Europe. If the British economy was in recession and had double-digit unemployment figures like Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece & several others, these immigrants would be leaving as quickly as they have arrived, either to head home or on to other EU countries where their prospects are better.

This fluid principle that allows EU citizens to move freely in search of work is probably the greatest benefit of EU membership and I worry that too many people on the Leave side simply don’t understand what an advantage this is. Even if you, specifically, have no intention of living in another EU country, it is still true that if hard times strike the UK in the future (as they surely will just as they always have) and our unemployment figures march stubbornly north, you will be glad that hundreds of thousands of people leave the UK to work elsewhere each year because your chances of finding work again in Britain will improve as a result.

Within the single market, our population will always contain a fluid percentage that rises & falls naturally with the economic strength and employment prospects of the UK and this helps us all. It is absolutely ridiculous to claim that EU migrants are “coming over here lazing around on benefits and stealing our jobs” – I mean just listen to how absurd that sounds! Which is it? Are they stealing our benefits or our jobs?

The truth is neither, they are simply moving to where the demand for their labour is strongest – Britain and Germany, the two largest economies in the EU.

Nobody quits a game they are winning: We have the best deal in the EU

Like any good Eurosceptic, I celebrate Margaret Thatcher’s hard-won rebate that redresses the unfairness that would otherwise see the UK contribute far more to the EU budget than France. I celebrate our various permanent opt-outs that exclude us from the Euro and the Schengen area and have protected this country so well over the last decade.

These examples of British exceptionalism might annoy the rest of Europe, but that doesn’t mean they are wrong or unfair in themselves. What is wrong and unfair is that the other countries in Europe don’t have the same opt-outs. I don’t believe any country should be forced to adopt the Euro for example, that’s something that should be entirely up to those countries and their citizens. At no time have I ever considered Britain a special case, I am simply grateful that I live in a country big enough and strong enough to stand up to the EU when it tries to impose idealistic, but potentially damaging, policies on its members.

The financial crisis vindicated all those voices that opposed the idea of Britain joining the Euro and silenced Europhiles like Tony Blair & Nick Clegg who were desperate to take us in. They have now had to admit that such a move would be a purely political decision that makes no economic sense at all.

The financial crisis hit Europe hard. Indeed, Britain was more exposed than most being that much more dependent on the banking sector at the heart of the crisis. Yet despite that, we were able to turn our economy round and restore growth while other major economies such as France and Italy have remained in recession or near flat-lined ever since. Why? – Because we retained full control of our currency and economy. We were able to make the changes the British economy needed quickly.

Countries inside the Eurozone, with wildly different economic needs, had no such flexibility. They had to compromise on the least-worst option, or if you’re in a cynical mood, they had to accept what was best for Germany.

My point is this: being outside the Euro helps shield us from the economic woes blighting much of Europe. Being outside the Schengen zone bought us the time needed to formulate a sensible policy to tackle the migrant crisis – a policy the EU has largely copied since (to take refugees only from official camps).

We have played our hand in the EU skilfully over the last couple of decades – we have wholeheartedly joined our European allies when it made sense to do so and we have kept the European Project as arm’s length when it didn’t and we now have the best deal in the EU.

At the end of 2015 a number of economic forecasts appeared pointing out that the UK economy had overtaken France and would likely overtake Germany to become the biggest economy in the EU within 20 years. This was, of course, based on the assumption we would be in the EU and was reported long before the current referendum debate began. We shouldn’t leave the EU, we should capitalise on our privileged position inside it to make those forecasts a reality.

Britain to become world’s fourth largest economy [Telegraph]

British Values and the English Language: Perhaps our greatest exports

Nobody would dispute the British patriotism of Winston Churchill who, as early as 1946 suggested a European Union.

To join the EU, you must be a democracy and respect the rule of law. You must embrace human rights, freedom and civil liberties. These are all very British qualities that have been taken for granted in this country for centuries while other European nations have struggled with dictators, fascists and communists. Britain has been a true leader and set a very positive, progressive, outward looking example.

When you travel around the EU, you realise that the English language has a strong foothold everywhere. You hear Anglo-American music in the shops, see Anglo-American films in the cinemas, TV Shows, literature and English language signs. If, as I have, you have attended business meetings in Europe, you will know that no matter what countries the attendees come from, when they gather in a meeting room, it will usually be English that they speak.

Whether it’s the camp extravaganza of the Eurovision song contest (Every song except one was sung in English [Daily Mail] or a means to escape decades of Russian dominance (Ukraine President declares 2016 the Year of English Language), the English language dominates and is helping bring Europe together.

Many countries in the EU, particularly Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany are desperate for us to remain in the EU. They view us as natural allies against the more regressive nations in the EU and as the EU becomes ever more anglicised, it makes less and less sense for us to leave it.

We have our opt-outs, we have border controls, we have our Referendum Locks, we have the best deal in the EU and very positive prospects within it. We should stay in, stay strong, stand our ground, hold the EU to account, work with other nations to fight regressive forces and work to advance British culture, values and the English language throughout Europe. Surely that is the most patriotic choice.

It’s certainly mine.

Vote Remain – Thursday, June 23rd