My Two Euros?

OK since the silence on Europe following Jo Cox’s tragic murder, has ended, here are my thoughts on Europe.

I don’t know what the financial implications are whether we leave or remain.  Neither does anyone else.

I don’t know what trading agreements we may or may not have: neither does anyone else.

I don’t know whether we will be better or worse off monetarily in either case.  Neither does anyone else.

There are too many imponderables in this debate; too many grey areas and far, far too many outlandish claims on both sides of the debate.

But I will say this:

1.  It’s my belief that if we are outside Europe we will be open to far greater influence from the US.  And with Trump looming in the wings, that would be a nightmare.
2. The Brexit side have fought very dirty; stirring up the worst fears and inciting xenophobia.  Farage’s poster was the last straw for many, including Baroness Warsi: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36572894
3. On balance – and it is a balance – I believe that workers’ rights and human rights in general will be better protected if we remain.
4. There has been a great deal of misinformation on both sides but probably more on the Brexit side.  They have persistently referred to the EU as ‘unelected’, forgetting that we elect Euro-MPs every few years.  Maybe they don’t bother to vote in those elections.
5. the idea of ‘going it alone’ is a fantasy.  Much of the Brexit campaign seems to hark back to a nostalgia for colonial times when Britain was a power in the world.  That time has gone.  We are now a small outpost of Europe.  We belong to Europe geographically and culturally; it makes sense to belong politically and economically.
6. er
7. that’s it.  Get out and vote.  But vote remain.

Kirk out