Do you think the British people have been clearly informed about the pro's and con's of leaving or staying in the EU?

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Ray Dart Profile
Ray Dart answered

It's a curious thing. Cameron came back from "negotiating" better terms for the UK. He didn't ask for very much and probably got less.

I say "probably", because the concessions he got (with the exception of the opt out from "ever closer union") have never been properly itemised or explained. So we have definitely not been informed there.

We are given dire warnings of economic problems if we leave, but again, no-one has actually explained properly why. (Or even tried to explain.)

The exit campaign are no better, They misrepresent the UK contribution (although we all know it is excessive) and then propose using the "savings" on exit for absolutely everything. That money has been spent 4 or 5 times over. No-one has actually said what it will really be used for.

Worst of all is the nonsense about immigration. Every 3 years, the population of this small island increases by a million people who do not share our culture, language or values. We are told in turns that this is necessary and we should embrace it and then that it is bad and the reason our public services are running at the limit, and our housing stock is so short.

Well, which is it? Explanation, or at least reasoned argument would be nice.

Is is that "the government/ruling classes" don't trust us? Do they think we won't understand? Is this paternalism or something worse?

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Rooster Cogburn
Rooster Cogburn commented
Outstanding answer ! I've been following this some and it's really confusing. Some say all the goods and the next day they say all the bad things. I learned more truth from your answer than what I've been reading in the news.
mary adam
mary adam commented
I agree
Ray Dart
Ray Dart commented
Incidentally, Cameron has been caught out today "stretching the truth" with regard to the UK's ability to remove people who are here from the EU, who don't work and who just take benefits. He really is shooting himself in the foot bigtime.
Pepper pot Profile
Pepper pot answered

No, so for me I trust what I know, and what I see in my own area and how it affects me.  Britain's export is lower than Europe's and so Europe would be cutting it's nose off to spite it's face if it rebuffed Britain because it left the EU. Businesses do business not politicians. Our country does not own or make anything because it's brands and industries have been gradually sold off to other countries, (you can search this for yourself), personally I don't like that as it keeps us weak, and if we stay in the EU it will never change. They threaten that we will struggle to do business if we leave, but look at your goods, most of them are from China, Hong Kong etc, countries outside the EU, they have no problems trading without EU trade agreements.  Also, look how Google, Starbucks and Amazon evaded UK tax.

Take a look online how the French control the borders, they have no control, people just run through. We can take back our borders and use a point system much like Australia's, the Remain campaigns says it is unrealistic, but Australia has been controlling it's borders for years with this system.

My small town has drastically changed in the last 2 years, the majority of people are not British anymore but foreign, our doctors surgeries and hospitals are under pressure because it cannot support the amount of people living here, they are building more houses taking away all our greenery (What Britain is known for) and we do not have the services or jobs to support such an influx of people. It takes me weeks to get an appointment at my own doctors and months to see someone at the hospital.  I have a polish chap living in my road, a very nice man, who has lived here for over 8 years, he is voting to leave because their are immigrants coming to this country who are claiming £1500 a month in benefits which is more than he earns in a week of hard labour.  Our local park has immigrants sleeping in them and drinking alchohol all day. The EU plans to expand, and all those people from them countries will not head to any other country but the UK, because they know they will get housing, benefits and healthcare, as our country gradually heaves with all the extra strain and will no doubt, sink under the pressure.

Unfortunately, students are worried about their "free movement" between countries when travelling, well that's all very well, but what about when they've finished with that and return to Britain for work? They will be facing exactly the same problems us working adults are facing today but worse, you can have all the qualifications in the world, but they will have no jobs, no housing, and no healthcare unless they can afford private.  Besides, a passport always helped me with movement through countries. As for those living abroad, most Brits are not made welcome in foreign countries, if they want to get along they have to learn the culture and the language, so why doesn't the same rules apply here?

Our NHS has gradually been privatised, personally I don't know the future for it under the EU, or if we leave the EU under a Tory government, who has sold most of Britain off to the private sector.

I'm just concerned that if we are not a democratic country then we have no say over the hiring and firing of our politicians. We are not a country anymore, we are something else, and people from other countries do not integrate, they build up little countries of their own within Britain, take a look at what has happened to the East End in London, Gravesend in Kent, Woolwich in London, to name but a few. This is because people like their own cultures, a thing the EU must think it can dismantle.

Ireland when offered a referendum voted to leave the EU, their vote was ignored, so it will not surprise me if this vote is fixed from the outset anyway. Greece is in so much debt it will never be able to pay it off, having had two international bail outs. Portugal's debt remains dangerously high. Cyprus had to be bailed out. Spain drew on 41 billion in funds. Ireland was also pushed into a bail out, Ireland voted No in a referendum regarding the EU and it was ignored. This EU is not looking like a good idea, unless the goal is to make every country broke and money worth nothing.

What riles me off the most, is if you say anything you are called a racist, well I'm not racist, I get why people come here this is not their fault, it's the governments.  I was born in Britain and I have a right to say how I'd like my country to be, it cannot support this influx of people, and just like every person from a foreign country is allowed to be proud of it's culture, I'm proud of mine too. Political correctness has gone mad, you cannot say anything even though the changes are right in your face and affecting your everyday living. People are saying don't give up on the EU, ask for certain changes, but that's NOT what this referendum is about, it is Leave or Stay, if you stay you are agreeing to the terms that are currently on offer, i.e a small bunch of elites in Brussels making all the decisions for our country as it plunges into debt, and instead of David Cameron paying off of some of that debt, he decides to spend 15 billion on more roads, yep they really care about the "Environment," honestly we are fed a daily diet of absolute "bull" from politicians, we really are, something's got to give.

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Pepper pot
Pepper pot commented
The EU is set to include other countries and they will head straight to the UK if they can because of our welfare system. As for racism, it is not a fair or correct term, I'm sure if any other country saw it's culture changing they would say the same, it is the "fear of being called racist that the EU relies on." Yet if you immigrated to France, Syria, India you would have to blend in with their culture, same as any other country, that is respectful. People from other countries see other people's colour, dress code, religion, and culture, to say otherwise is nonsense. For example many Islamic countries wouldn't have British citizens setting up Christian churches, it just wouldn't happen. All those immigrants who come to the UK are proud of their culture when they get here, they want to bring that with them, their food, their style their religion and their families. If people want Britain to be divided against itself, because as I've said many immigrants do not integrate not even with other immigrants, then we should stay in the EU, it can only get worse because all these cultures do not mix together here. We have an NHS that cannot cope, the NHS was orginally ours, the pubilcs. We are losing our identity. Reality is the same racism, negative opinions on cultures, religion has always existed within sects and countries just as it always has except now they are in greater number on a smaller island which once was British.
Pepper pot
Pepper pot commented
I wish you well Ray, it's a decision you can only make for yourself, my thoughts were different a few years back until I started seeing and experiencing the effect.
Pepper pot
Pepper pot commented
Oh don't forget TTIP, that was a big deal breaker for me :)

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