My last Euro Referendum Blog!

Liar Liar!

Hello Blogersphere! Ok well maybe my Mum. Who is the only reader I can count on as I force her to read these diatribes.

This will probably be my last blog on the subject of the upcoming EU referendum. The vote the UK is going to have to decide on it's future membership of the European Union. Or as The Clash put it "Should I stay or should I go" referendum.

When the campaign trail started way back in May I thought this was going to be a very busy time for my political blogging career. I was going to have lots of material to work with. I would have a near daily comment to make on the latest claim or counter claim made by the Leave or indeed the Remain campaign. 

But it has not been so dear reader. I gave up almost straight away because each side has just peddled the same old nonsense, all day, everyday.

Liar Liar Pants On Fire!

For instance take the Boris Johnson claim for £350 million pounds a week we give the EU. This claim was denounced on day one and yet here we are with less than 7 days to go and it is still being bandied about like it was some morsel of fact. It is, in truth, a more nuanced fact. The BBC explains why here

There are others. And the  Remain campaign are as bad. The sky will fall on our heads if we are to believe the Remain campaign.

It has led me to great disappointment. Everyone I talked to in my various social circles have said "Well I would like more information". The current campaigns have failed on all counts. No one's figures can truly be trusted, from the cost of being a member to the long range economic forecasts given out by the treasury.  If politicians ever thought out loud why it was they are the most disrespected profession, second only to journalists, then this referendum campaign should ram it home to them. 

Unfortunately there may be some important nuggets of information being given out there, but they are so wrapped in bullshit no one is ever going to dig them out.

So it boils down to this;

• Vote Leave if you believe that Westminster should have the final say on ANY legislation brought into this country.
• For any other argument vote  Remain. 

Sovereignty is the only reasoned and definitive aim that the leave campaign have. Never mind trade, never mind immigration.

So we we will continue to trade with Europe and the rest of the world. I agree but we will be a small player. There will be change and it is possible that change may be uncomfortable, or not. 

Fozzy Bear

I really thought this country had outgrown it's xenophobic issues after many years of fighting institutionalized racism. But no it is alive and kicking and being fanned by UKIP. Firstly immigration is a fact of life in EVERY part of the globe in this day and age. Secondly if we act against immigration we will just be cutting off our nose to spite our faces. The immigrants we have deemed undesirable will still come. They will enter illegally and as part of organised crime but they will still come here. So all we will do is stop plumbers, nurses, doctors, teachers, welders, scientists, in fact all the professions we do require, from coming here. These people will not be allowed in because their paperwork is not up to scratch and WE will lose their labour. 

So the only argument that gains any viable traction is the argument for sovereignty.

We may be the 5th largest economy but that is from being inside the EU. However there are larger economies around that could sweep us away. So why wouldn't we want to be part of a larger block? Safety in numbers? 
IF the EU is not what we require then leaving it is just so childish. We should fight to reform it from within.

I will vote  remain and I would implore everyone else to do the same. 

There may be a time to leave the EU - but this is not it