This is a speech I gave recently at a debate on the European Union at Selwyn College, Cambridge.

I want to tell you why Europe matters. Why it matters to me, to all of us, and our families.

I was born in the Caribbean after Hurricane Hattie, with the windows still broken in the hospital. We know extreme weather events are now more common elsewhere too.

But for our planet, and a greener future, Europe is taking the lead in the global effort to halt climate change. To prevent rising sea levels, and cut greenhouse gases. Our fragile, flood-ridden region, here in Cambridgeshire, needs that protection and forward thinking.

I grew up in Nigeria under a dictatorship. I saw division and bloodshed following the Biafran war. Burnt-out cars lay by the roadside. Roadblocks where soldiers had guns as likely to go off in their own face as mine.

THAT’S WHY I VALUE THE EUROPEAN PROJECT OF PEACE AND I WANT IT TO BE THERE FOR OTHERS TOO.

My work is on civil liberties and protection of the vulnerable. Especially migrant populations, trafficked women, and abused children. It’s why I feel that the EU, which funds programmes and refuges that protect women and young people from violence, is necessary.

It’s why I am grateful for the European Arrest Warrant. It means that thousands of criminals are no longer on our streets because our police can share information.

Now, I live with a vet and I’ve seen the impact of disease through intensive farming. Not only is animal welfare very important to us as a family. But as a mother, the safety of the food I feed my family matters.

So I am glad that EU food safety watches over all stages of food production. From animal feed, plants and crops, to the movement of animals. To ensure food across Europe is safe for us to eat.

And safer goods too. Because Europe gives us better consumer protection. Take standardization – people often laugh at Brussels for it. But it means that manufacture costs are lower and it ensures safer, better quality goods.

More than two thousand faulty items are banned each year – from Chinese rubber ducks to suspect tattoo chemicals from the USA. It means we can make informed choices.

And it means that we don’t have to face some terrible ones. As the control of hazardous chemicals – THIRTY THOUSAND of them, like dioxin, is done by the EU.

The benefit of living in a European Union is that health care is improved. The Medicines Agency ensures the scientific evaluation of drugs. With standards across Europe for screening and diagnosis.

I don’t want to go back to the old days of the expense, and FEAR, of falling ill abroad, and having to pay a fortune for treatment. That only happens OUTSIDE Europe.

And when our 4 children do fall ill, they are cured with drugs that rely on large trials across Europe because drug development is seldom done by one country on its own, but on a continental scale.

My children have grown up having the benefit of cheaper goods, everything from phone tariffs to cheap flights, because of European co-operation.

I care passionately about Europe because I believe in equal treatment between women and men. It was a founding principle of the EU in 1957 when the Treaty of Rome laid down the Principle of Equal Pay.

Since then, European laws expanded our choices and improved ALL our lives. These include paid annual leave, protection from harassment at work, and parental leave. Maternity rights are especially important so you can’t be sacked for being pregnant.

I campaigned for 20 years for rights the European Social Chapter gave us. I am not about to give them up now.
Rights matter. Gay, straight, bi, trans… the EU makes ALL equal before the law.

I believe we can only meet the challenges of the future in a strong and open Europe. The decision we take will shape the integrity of our country, and our union for a long time.

It’s a decision we take at a time of real fear and insecurity. Fear of terrorism, and violence, and extremism.

And it is our choice. Do we cast ourselves adrift? Condemning ourselves to irrelevance, and Europe to division and weakness?
Or do we reaffirm our commitment to Europe, and boost our continent in a dangerous world.

I’ve seen the painful cost of a dis-united country.

I don’t want a dis-united country in a dis-united Europe.

This choice is about the values we hold dear.

The values, not of fear, but of human dignity, and freedom. Not of supremacy, but of democracy & equality.
Not of judgement and blame, but of justice & respect for human rights.

And of the belief that in this wonderful European continent of ours,
With Britain in the lead we can create a great, and peaceful, sustainable and strong Europe,
With a strong United Kingdom at the heart of it.

Please. Vote with me to stay IN the European Union.

* Belinda Brooks-Gordon was #3 on the EU list in 2014, was a Cambridgeshire County Councillor, and is now an elected member of ALDE Council.