It's now nine days until the referendum that no-one has been looking forward to, so I thought I would put together a list of brief reasons as to why I'll be voting remain on Thursday 23rd June - for the UK to stay in the European Union. People aged 18-24 are the only age group who are apparently more likely to vote remain than leave, with 53% of those asked saying they are backing remain. This, sadly, is irrelevant however unless young people actually make it to a polling station and vote. This is our future - we need to make sure our voices aren't drowned out.
- People in the UK (especially young people) have many more opportunities as a result of being a member of the EU, for many reasons such as...
- Freedom of movement! We could, if we wanted, hop on a plane over to Spain and work there/start a business etc as we can in the UK
- Freedom of travel - I like travelling round EU countries without hassle
- Erasmus!! Thank you, European Commission, for my lovely Erasmus grant and year of fun abroad
- We've enjoyed the longest period of peace in European history, thanks to our cooperation with our neighbours in Europe
- UK universities receive so much funding from the EU which enables them to carry out important research and retain their high global statuses - Edinburgh for example receives £45 million each year
- Thousands of EU students can attend our universities each year, which makes them more diverse, and also contributes to our economy
- The European Social Charter - sets out the basic social and economic rights all people should enjoy and ensures they are protected at a European level, which means...
- Workers' rights are protected - e.g. the right to paid maternity/paternity leave, the right to not be fired due to sexual orientation/gender/race, the right to a maximum working time so people legally can't be overworked etc
- The world is increasingly interconnected, and I don't think it makes sense to remove ourselves from a large and influential community - the world's largest global market
- Cities in the UK, like Manchester and Liverpool, have benefited so much from EU funding - after an IRA bomb was set off in Manchester city centre in 1996 the city received EU restoration funding, and we've even received EU funding to expand the Met
- Emergency aid funding - e.g. when the awful flooding happened over winter, the government had the option to apply for EU money to help rescue communities
- Jobs (quite a big one) - millions of British jobs are directly linked to our membership of the EU
- Trade is made much easier (in my non-economist terms)
- The European Parliament recently voted to approve scrapping data roaming charges around EU countries, fab
- Free entry to museums and galleries etc across EU countries (have first hand experience this is true, having been on holiday to Budapest with a non EU citizen)
- The environment - with an agreed EU standard it has been much easier to work together to improve air/water quality, and it makes sense that having a united EU environmental policy is much more substantial than an individual British policy
- Sufferers of domestic violence are protected from their abuser in every single EU member state - if there is an order of protection in the UK for example then this order stands in France, Spain, Germany etc
- The EU isn't perfect, but it's better to change it from the inside rather than looking on from the outside
- If we left, we would have to abide by some EU regulations like Norway and Switzerland do, but without having any say whatsoever on them - we should have our seat at the European table
- Donald Trump wants us to leave the EU
- Representatives from America, Canada, Australia, India and Japan have all expressed their belief we should stay in the EU - all countries who the leave campaign has said we should work more closely with if we left the EU, but they don't even want us to leave
- EU migrants contribute massively to our economy, and it's very tempting to use them and the EU as scapegoats (remember we do have our own border controls, we aren't part of the Schengen Area that has no border controls)
- Most of our laws AREN'T made by the EU
- I like the ideals the EU was founded upon - peace, democracy, working together
- I worry that if we leave the EU, we will have given in to a sometimes scaremongering and racist leave campaign, and we could become a more insular and less tolerant country
- We have more global influence working in a big team
- If we left, how would we differentiate between EU tourists visiting the UK and EU workers? Would tourists have to get a visa or the workers some kind of work pass? What about UK citizens living in other EU countries? Who knows (said Diane James of UKIP)
- European Arrest Warrant - cross-country cooperation in arresting criminals in EU countries, so we're safer in a big community too
- Cheaper products in our shops - I like nice and cheap yummy French cheese
Please vote on Thursday 23rd June (and please vote remain!)
