Tag Archives: eu referendum

Mark Argent

It’s time to come clean about immigration

By Mark Argent | Sun 5th June 2016 - 9:19 am

It is time to come clean about immigration. It is a good thing. It is a good thing culturally and economically.

My life is vastly enriched by friendships with people who have come to the UK as immigrants and others who are the children of immigrants. They include people who came seeking asylum and people who came seeking a better life. My life is enriched by other friends who have emigrated, through whom I have valued networks of friends in many other parts of the world.

Economically too, migration matters. People sometimes talk as if there are a finite number of jobs and immigrants increase the competition. This is nonsense. Immigrants come, they work, they buy things, their presence boosts the economy. They create more work and more possibility.

A study published in 2014 showed that European migrants pay substantially more in taxes than they take in benefits. They arrive having finished schooling, and all the costs to the state of bringing people to adulthood.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 27 Comments
NewsHound

LibLInk: Christine Jardine: A European Journey

By NewsHound | Sat 4th June 2016 - 10:55 am

Scottish Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson Christine Jardine has reflected on the EU referendum as her daughter sets out on a journey round Europe. She thinks back to how her grandmother felt seeing her son go to Normandy – to fight in a war. She imagines her horror and panic when he briefly went missing and was found injured. All this, she argues, amounts to a powerful case to stay in the European Union:

My daughter and her friends have already visited Thiepval, the Normandy beaches, a concentration camp.

They have studied that period of European History which is about to pass from living memory, and regard it as their own, as Europeans.

When they talk of either World War what I hear is not blame or criticism of other nations but a recognition that, as a continent, we screwed up.

And they do not talk in terms of former enemies and allies, but of neighbours, fellow Europeans with whom we are building a common, and better, future.

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | 2 Comments
The Voice

Rennie: We need to keep access to EU markets easy for business

By The Voice | Sat 4th June 2016 - 9:26 am

Willie Rennie argues today that we need to make sure that we keep access to EU markets easy for business. We don’t want to be putting borders up, creating more red tape, which could cause problems and cut jobs. He says:

At the heart of the argument for remaining in Europe is a single market, making trade easier, and allowing businesses based on innovation and excellence to thrive is going to underpin our future success.

That was the argument that won the independence referendum and is just as powerful now.

Three million jobs in Britain depend on Europe. We need to make Europe easy for business.

As part of Europe we are part of an economic market worth trillions. There are 500 million customers.

It means that a Scottish company that is good and efficient at its job can expand across the continent.

Easy access to 500 million customers is worth millions of jobs in Britain.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 2 Comments
The Voice

Vince Cable: European single market represents a British vision of an open Europe

By The Voice | Fri 3rd June 2016 - 5:30 pm

Britain has attracted the world’s top companies to invest here, creating jobs, on the basis of access to the European single market. That’s what Vince Cable told an audience in Bristol earlier this week. Far from being an invention of straight-banana obsessed bureaucrats, the EU represents a British vision of an open Europe, he added. Here is his speech in full.

It is great to be here in Bristol celebrating the best in British manufacturing with the leaders of our top manufacturing companies.

Manufacturing still provides half of our exports, three quarters of scientific innovation and two and a half million relatively

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 12 Comments
Denis Mollison

A postal vote for the EU

By Denis Mollison | Fri 3rd June 2016 - 10:55 am

It came this morning and I’ve sent it straight in.

The arguments about trivial matters such as whether we’ll be 2% better or worse off for a few years are dismaying in their triviality. Even the major medium term issues – such as defeating neoliberal economics, fighting for fair trade rather than free trade – are not the ones to focus on.

The urgent major issues are climate change, biodiversity, population growth. If we can’t deal with these there is no hope for social prosperity or justice – for defeating Beveridge’s five giants: squalor, ignorance, want, idleness, and disease.

The idea that we can tackle these major issues by `taking back control of our country’ is laughable. We need to share our sovereignty with the rest of humanity.

The unique selling point of the EU is that it extends democracy beyond national borders. Of course its democracy is not perfect, but for what is pretty much a first in democratic international cooperation it’s pretty good. It’s better than what we have in the UK in many respects, with our disproportional adversarial system and unelected House of Lords.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 5 Comments
The Voice

WATCH: Alex Cole-Hamilton on the EU’s key role in securing peace and freedom

By The Voice | Thu 2nd June 2016 - 3:45 pm

This is not the first time we’re going to show this in the run-up to the EU Referendum, and it certainly won’t be the last.

Alex Cole-Hamilton sums up why he is such a passionate pro-European:

It would do the Remain campaign no harm at all to have this on continuous loop for the next few weeks.

Here is the text in full.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 4 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Charles Kennedy: Lib Dems must be the voice of rational pro-Europeanism

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 2nd June 2016 - 12:26 pm

Here is a flavour of what Charles Kennedy would have brought to this European referendum. Bold, passionate, principled stuff from the 2013 Glasgow conference.

He talked about his worry about opposing the Iraq War, that it could seriously damage the party – but it was the right thing to do and he was glad that we had done it.

What that episode proved to me was that you can take a distinct position which isn’t necessarily popular with everyone but marks you out and people can recognise your sincerity and honesty and make a case that none of the others are prepared to make.

If the voice of rational pro=Europeanism is going to be heard thee is only one place it can come from and it should be us and it will be us.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 3 Comments
Joshua Dixon

Why I’m voting remain: I want to live in a Britain that stands tall and proud in the world

By Joshua Dixon | Wed 1st June 2016 - 6:55 pm

Tomorrow I’ll be sending off my postal vote. A vote that will possibly be the most important of my lifetime.
Unsurprisingly (to those of you who know me) I’m voting for Britain to remain a member of the European Union. I’m doing so because I believe passionately in the project and what it represents.

However, I want to explain why this referendum is about so much more than whether Britain is simply a member of the EU or not. In my view it is just as much about the sort of country we see Britain as and what it’s place in the world will be.

The two routes we can choose between represent two very different images of the sort of Britain we will be:

Will it be a Britain that is the compassionate, diverse nation that welcomes the innovators and thinkers of tomorrow from across the continent? Or will it be a Britain that turns its back on its neighbours in favour of a false sense of security symbolised through the artificial barriers we have imposed on ourself?

Will it be a Britain that stands tall on the international stage as a leader in the fight to tackle the greatest threat to humanity known as climate change? Or will we be a Britain that thinks we should give legitimacy to the views of the climate deniers pushing so desperately for a leave vote?

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 17 Comments
Lord William Wallace

Lord William Wallace writes… How you can make sure we win this referendum

By Lord William Wallace | Wed 1st June 2016 - 12:45 pm

The betting odds on the outcome of the EU Referendum are comforting. And the polls so far are not too bad. But once you are out of London, and on the doorstep, it doesn’t feel good. The messages that feed back, picked up from social media and the subtle messages that the Leave campaign are putting out, show how many people have picked up their portrayal of the EU as draining both our sovereignty and our budget. Their latest political broadcast played heavily on the idea that the NHS will get worse if we stay in, and will benefit from extra funds and fewer patients if we leave.

Not all Liberal Democrat party members feel passionate about Europe. For many, local issues and local campaigning is more important – and more directly relevant to those whose votes we are seeking. The ALDC has fixed a full-day conference the weekend before the Referendum to discuss local campaigning, which will I imagine include a session on how to combat the appeal of UKIP at the local level. But local and international issues do not exist in separate compartments: concerns about immigration and diversity, competition for housing, schools and jobs (and hospital admissions), bridge the two. UKIP, and some local Tories, play skilfully on fears of change and mistrust of incomers, to our disadvantage.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | 23 Comments
James Baillie

We need to talk to Yanis

By James Baillie | Tue 31st May 2016 - 1:55 pm

 

We’re fighting hard to stay in the EU in this campaign, and we’ve got a good fighting chance of winning it. But it’s important to remember that this has been the campaign that never should have happened. What we’re fighting against isn’t just the lacklustre waffling of a Tory-led Vote Leave campaign that’s largely been hijacked by a fluffy-headed careerist Etonian. That would have been no problem. The real enemy is a drip-feed of decades of anti-EU propaganda and domestic politicians deflecting blame to Brussels – which is in turn made possible by the catastrophic scale of voter disengagement with European politics.

And that’s at the heart of why we should take the leftist reformers of Another Europe is Possible seriously.

The EU needs reform. This oughtn’t be a controversial statement to make; it’s self-evident that in most European elections voters have been wholly disengaged from the issues upon which they were electing their MEPs, and that’s not largely the fault of the voters. It doesn’t help that the appointed commission wields a great deal of authority with little direct accountability, and the tendency of national politicians to use European elections as mid-term referenda on national governments compounds the problem.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | 21 Comments
Caron Lindsay

The Tories, not the EU, are responsible for VAT on domestic fuel

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 31st May 2016 - 12:52 pm

So, the latest salvo from the Leave camp is an assertion that the EU is stopping us from cutting VAT on domestic fuel.

There is one man amongst the ranks of the Brexiters who knows all about VAT on domestic fuel. That’s right. Step forward former Chancellor Norman Lamont. It was he who decided to put VAT on domestic fuel at the rate of 8% from April 1 1994. The EU didn’t force him to do this. He was doing it to cut public spending, something Tories have a bit of an obsession with. Not only that, but he would have been quite happy to raise it to 17.5% the year after.

Here’s a story from the Independent at the time where Mr Lamont is doing his usual Je ne regrette rien line.

Fellow now Brexiteer Michael Portillo, then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, added his twopence worth:

And in an atmosphere of growing confusion, a damaging Commons row broke out last night after Michael Portillo, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, suggested that poorer people would not suffer too much because of the ‘swings and roundabouts’of the Income Support system.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 43 Comments
David Allen

Buy the Brexit Pig – in a poke!

By David Allen | Tue 31st May 2016 - 10:43 am

 

It’s the chance of a lifetime!  Roll up, in your millions!  Come and buy our beautiful Brexit Pig – in a poke!

When Brexit wins, June 24th will be a Golden Dawn*!  Our Prime Minister, Whoever that might be, will soon show Angela Merkel who’s boss!

  • What’s that you say? We’re going to let Cameron stay on?  But that will be disastrous, he’ll drag his feet, it’ll all go pear-shaped!  Surely we need to tell the nation that it’ll be Our Man?
  • What’s that you say? That there’d be chaos, Boris slugging it out with Gove, the Opposition parties threatening to bring down the government?  It’s a nightmare!  What can we tell the public?  I know!  Let’s tell them nothing!  Let’s dodge the question, say nothing at all about who will lead us out of Europe, and hope they don’t notice the problem.  Keep that pig firmly in its poke!

Anyway, our Prime Minister Whoever will know exactly how to deal with Europe.  It certainly won’t be like Norway!

  • What’s that you say? That Cameron is bound to go for the Norway approach, which comes closest to no-change?  Keep quiet about that.  We haven’t told the public who Prime Minister Whoever will be, remember!  Keep that pig firmly in its poke!
Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | 17 Comments
John Thomason

Brexit’s potential impact on sport

By John Thomason | Mon 30th May 2016 - 11:44 am

 

There have been a number of voices over recent months hinting at the negative impact that Brexit could have on British sport. Earlier this year BBC Sport analysis suggested that 332 players in the top two divisions of English football, plus the Scottish Premiership, would be at risk by a Leave vote – a view backed up by Karen Brady from Stronger In a letter that she sent to all of the professional football teams in England, Scotland and Wales in January. Similarly, she hinted at the impact on competition and travelling fans – something relevant not just in football, but in the two rugby codes, both of which have commitments in European club competition on a regular basis – and I say that as a fan of a rugby league team that got beaten 44-16 by a team from Toulouse at the weekend!

Whilst football and rugby, with their European dimension, would be hit at professional level, it is the grassroots impact on sport that is perhaps more significant.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 16 Comments
The Voice

Elaine Bagshaw: Don’t let your opportunities be snatched away: Register to vote

By The Voice | Sat 28th May 2016 - 7:17 pm

The young Liberal Democrat who has led such a strong effort in East London, Elaine Bagshaw, today urged young people to register to vote so that they could make sure Britain stays in the European Union. Speaking at a Stronger In event in London, she said:

We have nothing to gain from leaving Europe. We have everything to lose. We’ll have a privilege that we have enjoyed and benefitted from taken away from us and the generations that will follow us.

If you don’t want that snatched away, you need to speak up and use your voice.

If you haven’t already, register to vote here. Here’s her speech in full:

Voting in this referendum is incredibly important because this time every vote counts. Whether you’re in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh or Liverpool. Whether you’re 19 or 90. Your votes are equal. Your vote and your voice is powerful and it matters.
It’s so important to have your say because this vote really matters. We won’t get another crack at this in 5 years like a general election. This is it.

I’m really passionate about opportunity. About everyone having the chance to succeed regardless of where you’re born, the colour of your skin, who you love and anything else that makes you, you.

Staying in Europe gives us so many opportunities. To live and work in other countries, experience different cultures, to live alongside people from Europe and to learn about them and ourselves.

If we vote to leave, we lose all of that. Those opportunities that you and I have now, and that our younger relatives, friends and siblings have will be quickly and cruelly snatched away.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 2 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Sal Brinton takes part in Christian EU debate

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 28th May 2016 - 2:25 pm

Women’s voices have been sadly lacking in the EU referendum debate so far. Even the BBC debate on Thursday night had but one female panellist. What’s particularly annoying about that is that Diane James’ comment that she didn’t know if we’d need visas to go to France is being much lampooned and Liam Fox’s that he didn’t really know what would happen to the economy if we left the EU (but he’s willing to give it a go anyway) is being largely ignored.

Anyway, Thursday’s debate was perfectly gender balanced and was conducted with the theme of #disagreewell. This is all about leaving the bluff and bluster at the door and having a grown up conversation. It sounds good, but would the reality reflect that. Well, with a priest and a diplomat making up half the panel, along with our Sal, you would think so. It seems to have been relatively good-humoured.

One point that came up in the Scottish referendum was made here. In Scotland, it was “we might be poor, but at least we’ll be free” and a very similar argument was made by Rev Giles Fraser, arguing for Brexit. I find it incredible that supporters of Leave are happy to take an economic hit which by its nature will impact on the poorest and most vulnerable in all sorts of ways.

Sal was able to neutralise the idea that we’d somehow “get our democracy back” pointing out that our democracy is far from perfect and essentially gave Ann Widdecombe a job for life. Frankly, I’d much rather the EU was there to act as a check on a power-hungry Tory government which is trying to stitch the system in its favour on not much more than a third of the popular vote.

Here’s a flavour of what went on:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged | 8 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Alex Cole-Hamilton’s debut speech: EU is most important charter for freedom the world has ever seen

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 26th May 2016 - 3:48 pm

There is a reason I have spent so much time and energy over the past decade trying to get Alex Cole-Hamilton elected to the Scottish Parliament. I hope the video of his debut speech this morning will help you understand it too.

I had pretty high expectations, if I’m honest. The subject, the EU, is one of his strong points. Last year he won best speaker in the Charles Kennedy Memorial Debate on our continued membership of the EU. Alex managed to exceed even my lofty expectations today.

He paid tribute to his immediate predecessor and to Margaret Smith, who, as Liberal Democrat MSP for Edinburgh West until 2011, had played such a huge role in getting Free Personal Care through.

On Europe, he highlighted the role of the EU in preserving the peace. Only the last two generations of his family have been free from the losses of European war. As well as preserving the peace, the EU helps us tackle the challenges facing our world which know no borders, like climate change and human trafficking, he argued.  The case he made for the EU was persuasive, inspiring and optimistic.

The full text is below:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , and | 7 Comments
Anne Curie

EU Referendum: Don’t forget to register to vote and other musings

By Anne Curie | Thu 26th May 2016 - 8:55 am

Ballot boxOn 23 June 2016, Britain will face one of the greatest electoral questions of this decade. Voters will be asked to decide whether or not they wish to see the UK remain in the European Union.  Yet as this crucial election draws ever-nearer, there is an important issue which must be contemplated: registering to vote.

The deadline to register to vote for the referendum is midnight, 7 June. The party-neutral Bite The Ballot (of which Lord Roberts is Honorary President) is running an innovative #TurnUp campaign in the week approaching this deadline. I urge everyone to support this cause. It’s vital to ensure that the 30% of young people missing from the roll are able to have their say.

Regardless of how you choose to vote, it is crucial that all eligible voters turn up to vote and have their say on the future of Britain’s membership of the EU. That said, Lib Dems have adamantly chosen to become the party of remaining ‘IN’ the Union. Our party chooses this path because it’s not only the right thing to do, but it’s the smart thing to do. 

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 1 Comment
The Voice

Farron: Brexit threatens farmers and consumers

By The Voice | Wed 25th May 2016 - 4:10 pm

Tim Farron was in the west country yesterday.

He went to Yeovil for a spot of EU referendum campaigning:

While he was there, he visited a dairy farm whose owner is keen to remain in the EU.

Tim said:

Brexit is a real threat to our farming industry, and the many families that rely on exports for their livelihoods.

Our free access to 500m customers is invaluable, with 73% of UK agricultural and food exports going to the EU. Leaving would hit jobs and devastate rural communities.

The survival of rural businesses – and the precious environment they protect – is a fragile thing, and should not be put at risk by leaving.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 4 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Nick Clegg: Beware the brash bluff and bluster of the Brexit sharks

By NewsHound | Wed 25th May 2016 - 2:42 pm

Nick Clegg has taken prominent Leave campaigners to task over their recent pronouncements in his latest Standard column:

He draws an analogy from the iconic tv programme Happy Days:

As the writers of the TV show Happy Days approached their fifth season they were running out of ideas for storylines. So, in the season premiere, they sent the Fonz to Los Angeles where, in a bid to prove his bravery, he put on a pair of water skis and jumped over a shark.

That moment spawned a phrase — “jumping the shark” — which is used to describe the moment when something is taken too far, loses all credibility and makes everyone involved look silly.

In recent weeks, the Brexit campaign has jumped the shark.

He then looks at the wilder pronouncements of Boris, Farage and Penny Mordaunt before turning on an old adversary of his, Dominic Cummings. Nick and Cummings have some pretty serious history. I doubt that they are on each others’ Christmas card lists.

Dominic Cummings, a senior figure in Vote Leave, has suggested that those who believe we should remain in the EU are like the appeasers of the 1930s. Wearing the slightly crazed look of someone who jumps sharks for a living, Cummings told the Commons Treasury Committee that the “conventional wisdom” of today is as misguided as it was then. The fixation with the Nazis among Brexiteers is as historically illiterate as it is revolting.

Cummings has asserted that the Cabinet Secretary, Jeremy Heywood, is running an intimidation scam out of the Cabinet Office, threatening people to toe a pro-European line. I saw the Cabinet Office at work for five years. It is a slightly herbivorous part of the government machine. The notion that it is the Whitehall equivalent of the Sopranos is laughable.

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Also tagged and | 11 Comments
The Voice

ICYMI: Shirley Williams speaking on the EU at the National Liberal Club

By The Voice | Wed 25th May 2016 - 11:50 am

On Monday, Shirley Williams came out of retirement to give a speech on why Britain should remain in the EU at the National Liberal Club.

The party made very good use of Facebook Live to broadcast the event – and you can watch the speech again here.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged | 5 Comments
The Voice

Competition: How has the EU helped your area?

By The Voice | Wed 25th May 2016 - 10:21 am

Dunfermline Liberal Democrats have come up with a way of highlighting how every town has benefitted from Britain’s membership of the EU. As you are out and about, keep your eyes peeled for signs that show that projects have been funded by the EU. Tweet them to @dunflibdems and whoever provides the most will get “a fantastic prize.”

This is the brainchild of local member Aude Boubaker and it’s a great way of understanding how the EU affects our daily lives.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged | 13 Comments
Caron Lindsay

The dark side of Leave upsets even the Mail on Sunday

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 22nd May 2016 - 12:42 pm

On Friday, the official Leave campaign released a deeply unpleasant video suggesting that Turkey is on the brink of joining the EU. Lib Dem Peer Meral Hussein-Ece was horrified:

This is more desperation from Brexit and Project Fear. This is a xenophobic attack from a leave campaign that knows it is losing the debate. Stigmatising Turkey and the people who live there is a dangerous move which comes from the propaganda playbooks of 100 years ago.

One of the great things about the EU is that it encourages us to work together; instead the leave campaign are offering a world of division and distrust. This is not a future we should be fighting for.

Boris Johnson knows that Turkey won’t be joining the EU any time soon; they have been a candidate since 1987 and have only met one target of the 36 stipulated by the EU. Yet again Boris has recklessly made up new ‘facts’ on the spot.

You have to wonder if there’s a myth that Boris won’t promote in the run-up to the referendum, from the bogus £350 million a week figure to his bizarre comments that you can’t buy bananas in bunches of more than three.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 34 Comments
The Voice

ICYMI: Tim on Question Time

By The Voice | Sun 22nd May 2016 - 9:45 am

Tim Farron was on Question Time the other night and was everything you would want a Liberal Democrat to be – positive, optimistic, passionately internationalist and pro-NHS, progressive and practical.

Here is why he is voting to Remain:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 1 Comment
Team #Intogether

Next #INtogether action day on 28 May

By Team #Intogether | Wed 18th May 2016 - 5:56 pm

IntogetherTeam #INtogether want to say a massive THANK YOU to all our LibDem activists and friends who hit the streets last Saturday and made our first National Day of Action a huge success!

INtogether 2Last Saturday, the Liberal Democrats proved that we are back, fighting harder than ever. Over the course of the day, over 1000 LibDems across England, Scotland and Wales hit the streets, holding over 200 street stalls and talking to countless people, making a positive, progressive case …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 4 Comments
Stuart Bonar

What being in the EU has meant for my family

By Stuart Bonar | Wed 18th May 2016 - 2:20 pm

What has Europe ever done for me? It’s a question that the impending referendum has caused me to ask myself. I had always been supportive, but throwing myself into the campaign to remain meant I needed to be clear in my mind why I was supportive and what the benefits were. And having helped so far at street stalls in Truro, Plymouth, Taunton, Yeovil, Bristol and Stroud, it has proved a useful exercise as voters have rightly demanded to know what good the EU has done.

And the way I thought about it was to think about the generations of my own family. How have their lives been different because the EU exists and because we’re in?

Take my father, for example. He was a Royal Marine in the Sixties and Seventies. My brother too served in the armed forces, in the Eighties and Nineties, and his daughter – my niece – too. And my brother-in-law is a serviceman today and has been so for about 20 years. All of them have seen active service, but none of them thankfully were thrown into a conflict on the European mainland. Indeed, in the case of my father and brother, they once stood ready to defend our country from communist dictatorships in eastern Europe that are today our democratic friends and allies.

It is true that Nato helped prevent war between the West and the East during the Cold War, and stands ready to defend us today should Putin get a bit too trigger-happy. But there is a difference between an absence of war and a culture of peace. And it has been the European Union that has made it the boring, day-to-day norm that European countries talk with each other and work with each other on the big issues facing our continent. And it was the pull of EU membership, not the defensive military alliance of Nato, that helped embed democratic government and civil liberties in those eastern Europe countries that joined the EU a decade or so ago.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 19 Comments
Paul Walter

“This is about control” – yes, of course it is

By Paul Walter | Wed 18th May 2016 - 11:30 am



This video clip sums up the whole EU referendum debate. It hits the nail on the head. It is virtually all you need to see, to make your mind up on the matter.

It’s from a Daily Mirror debate, chaired by Mark Austin. The Guardian summarises the clip thus:

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 16 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Farron and Paddy condemn Boris’s Hitler comments

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 15th May 2016 - 12:30 pm

When you fall foul of Godwin’s Law by bringing Hitler into a conversation, you have to expect to be criticised. Boris Johnson isn’t stupid. Far from it. He was trying to get those two words resounding in people’s heads. It doesn’t matter that he refined his comments in the interview. The headlines turbo-boost the poison dripping from the Brexiteers in their highly emotive campaign. They play on people’s fears and suggest that leaving the EU would solve all our problems.

Both Tim Farron and Paddy Ashdown have been quick to resoundingly condemn Boris’s comments. Tim said:

Under Hitler, Europeans were killing each other, now they are arguing over Eurovision.

The European Union is what happens when countries seek to learn from the past and work together. Boris Johnson’s latest intervention is what happens when people refuse to learn the lessons of the past and seek to spread discord by inventing conspiracies.

The EU has helped secure peace; Hitler destroyed peace and killed millions of innocent people. It is extraordinary that anyone even needs to point this out to him.

While Paddy tweeted:

They are right, but we need more proactive, positive commentary from them too:

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 23 Comments
The Voice

Watch: Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus say why he thinks Britain should stay in the EU

By The Voice | Sun 15th May 2016 - 10:15 am

It’s like Lib Dem Christmas this weekend, with Eurovision and a National Day of campaigning to stay in the EU.

So many readers will be pleased to see that Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus has come out for Remain. Watch his interview here:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 1 Comment
Chris Key

It’s the UK itself not the EU holding our industry back.

By Chris Key | Fri 13th May 2016 - 4:20 pm

Our EU membership is holding us back from trading with the rest of the world and awful EU regulation is to blame for struggling small businesses in the UK. Sound familiar? It’s the broken record of the Leave campaign’s business message. This group of politicians wants to portray the UK like a child who needs to have the umbilical cord cut, in order to be set free and conquer the world. In reality, leave or stay in the EU, there is plenty we could be doing to help business and trade, all of which is within our power today.

Lets start with tax. Current UK tax law runs into a total of a staggering 10 million words. Every Chancellor for the last 20 years has added to the problem and only recently has an office for tax simplification been set up, so far with little effect. Small businesses find it impossible to get through to HMRC on the phone while large corporates have easy access to HMRC officials in order to do deals like the one Google struck. Fixing the complexity in our tax system would really help our small business owners to thrive much more than repealing EU legislation actually designed to ensure the single market works for all.

When it comes to the internet, the UK’s slowest recorded broadband speed is slower than at the base camp at Everest. This is like a 1900’s steam train compared to Korea where speeds 25 times higher have been recorded. It is the lack of willingness to invest by government and industry in broadband infrastructure and not the EU which are to blame here.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 14 Comments
Nick Hopkinson

EU Referendum: Some reflections from the campaign trail

By Nick Hopkinson | Fri 13th May 2016 - 1:55 pm

In the past couple of months, I have given some 30 talks and debates at schools, universities and community groups in Greater London and the South East making the case for remaining in the EU. With little over a month remaining before the referendum, an event which could profoundly change our country for the worse, now might be a good time to brainstorm with fellow campaigners on how we might best proceed.

Leavers know their strength is to appeal to gut emotion and take advantage of widespread lack of knowledge of the EU after decades of poor Conservative and Labour leadership and much media misinformation on the issue. Making the case for Remain is complex and is not easily communicated in soundbytes, nor does its often technical arguments make good headlines. Arguing we have the best British trade deal through our EU membership is hardly stirring. Leavers’ emotional appeal to nationalism, identity and our glorious past is. If we are to win the hearts and minds of the middle third, we need to inject emotion as well.

Catherine Bearder MEP is absolutely right not to cede the patriotic high ground to Eurosceptics. Remainers are patriots too because we know remaining in the EU is in our national interest. The difference is that the Leavers’ nationalism is atavistic whereas ours is inclusive and positive. I regularly use the line “Leavers want to take their country back, we want to take our country forward!”

Leavers argue we cannot tell the future. Whilst this is true, we shouldn’t fall into the trap of agreeing with them. Professional forecasters, whether economists or weathermen, are needed to help companies and individuals plan and minimise risk. Forecasters are not scaremongering. The referendum is already causing uncertainty and a downturn in the economy, notably in investment. The status quo of EU membership is the safer option. We know what remain looks like (the present), but Leavers cannot describe, let alone agree, what out looks like. Can the leavers name one study which concludes we would be better off out? When interviewed by Andrew Neil, Kate Hoey MP couldn’t.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | 5 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Steve Trevethan
    Might it be that our current U. K. government is simply complying with the wishes/obsessions of the government of the U. S. A.?...
  • Steve Trevethan
    Might the related confiscation/theft of the monies of its enemies entrusted to the U. S. A, and its allies, have seriously/permanently damaged American financia...
  • Jenny Barnes
    Over 95% of pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries on pavements and verges are caused by motor vehicles, so watch out for the cars! Esp SUVs which are 40% ...
  • Jonathan Brown
    You say security for Israel "rests on deterrence, alliances and the belief among Israel’s enemies that resistance is hopeless". It could also, and more sus...
  • Nonconformistradical
    Regarding the by-election for Mayor of Greater Manchester necessitated by Andy Burnham's resignation from the position. I wonder what the financial cost to t...