Each one of us who was glued to a screen or radio for the Nick vs Nigel EU debate last Wednesday will have our own opinion of who lost and who won as facts, rhetorical points and the affection of the audience were fought over. But I’ll tell you whose affection wasn’t fought over – that of Britain’s young people. And I, along with friends in and outside the party, was disappointed.
The lives of young people in this country – your children, your activists, you – will be put at yet another significant disadvantage if we end up losing our membership of the European Union. But with voting turnout amongst young people at a massive low and once again the needs of young people risking being stamped on. Because of this, it is our job as Liberal Democrats to give them a reason to go out on the 22nd May and vote – vote not just for a liberal Britain, but for a Britain firmly IN Europe.
So why should young people want us to stay in the EU? Because only the EU can guarantee us the same massive benefits that will help us get on in our lives, like education, employment and the environment. Leaving it means losing out.
So here are some concrete examples of why we need to stay IN;
as EU citizens we have the right to study anywhere in the EU with grants offered to those studying abroad within the EU;
EU social law also allows qualifications gained here to be recognised in other member states, eliminating the need to take further assessments;
when we do finish education and/or training the EU’s single market, the biggest in the world, gives us access to millions of jobs – not just in other parts of Europe, but in this country too.
If were were to pull out some 4.2 million jobs may be put at stake, and rising unemployment like this always hits young people the hardest.
As a break from all this work and learning we can go travelling and take advantage of how cheap it is to see what Europe has to offer! We can take advantage of reduced border checks, we don’t have to shell out for expensive visas and we have access to free health care if we need it.
Then something that isn’t much of a holiday – how about climate change? This is a problem now and will only continue to be one as time goes by, hitting our generation hard. The hugely damaging effects of climate change in the future (because what we see now is only a taster) will know no borders, which is why we need international co-operation to deal with it now.
These are just some of the ways young people stand to gain from our EU membership, and we as Liberal Democrats need to be selling this to them at every opportunity we get.
We, Britain’s young people, already have enough barriers to getting on in our lives – lets do all we can to ensure being outside the EU doesn’t become another one.
* Ab Brightman is the International Officer for Liberal Youth and Vice President of the International Federation of Liberal Youth
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9 Comments
Wow.. 4.2million jobs now.
Just a tip, keep an eye on the total working population of the UK, because if the number of jobs at risk keeps increasing by 30% a week, then in about 6 months time you will be claiming more jobs are at risk than there are people employed in the UK. Have you ever considered what is best for the whole country, rather than selfishly handing over your British identity just to avoid showing your passport at the border.
Well said Ab, I agree completely. It’s no coincidence that young voters are far more likely to back our EU membership – but sadly less likely to be registered or to use their votes. Let’s make young voter registration our priority ahead of the 6 May deadline for the European elections! http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/
Young people benefit from the EU.?
Yes, I guess youth unemployment of 50%+ in Greece, Italy and Spain is a real blast for those EU young~uns?
No, we should be going out and seeking to persuade people to vote Liberal Democrat for a liberal *Europe*. MEPs legislate for the EU as a whole, not for the UK or for this country’s place in the EU. So we should be campaigning on what we as *liberals* will do for the EU, as opposed to what the Conservatives and their raving-right allies will do.
Alex – ah I think you misunderstand me – the voting for a liberal Britain was in referencing to getting people to also vote in the local elections on May 22nd as well as the European one. My mistake if the phrasing wasn’t clear – of course I completely agree that we should be campaigning for a liberal Europe too! (anyone who knows me knows I actually prefer the euopolitics to the domestic anyway)
John – whilst there is no denying that youth unemployment is shockingly high this is not a product of the EU but of a variety of much more national factors, such as national government, otherwise we would see the same youth unemployment figure replicated in all EU countries – and whilst it’s generally too high to be at all comfortable about, it’s not consistent or the fault of the EU.
Raddly – haha I too can be quite sceptical of the vast figures the party has been claiming jobs are linked to in Europe but it’s certainly not just us who are shouting the new 4.2 figure (this is just one example) http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/exports-to-eu-support-42m-jobs-30140509.html
AB
I read your link, and as per usual it is the same old selective useage of data. The link clearly states that there is no evidence that jobs will be lost whether 3 million or 4.2 million. Your whole argument has become discredited, and even on here there are many who decry it as a foolish campaigning tactic, but I suppose if the Lib Dems think there is still mileage in 3 million lost jobs, it’s your funeral.
I do however find it odd that in order to sell the EU that your party seems so obsessed with at any price, you need to resort to laughable data to support your case. Last week Clegg was given the perfect opportunity to sell the pro EU argument, the perfect opportunity to sell the EU, that the pro EU people have been calling for, yet he couldn’t apparently find any real positives to use, resorting to tactic No 1 scaremongering. Why did he waste this glorious opportunity to sell the EU, he was like a Kentucky Fried Chicken salesman that had run out of chicken.
I would suggest if he couldn’t make a convincing argument for it last week, then he can’t make a convincing argument for it period. EU and all that goes with it at any cost for ideaological reasons will be the death of your party, yet you seem blind to the reality that is staring you in the face,
Raddiy – The argument is not that those jobs will necessarily disappear overnight. The point, as the research does back up, is that those jobs are supported by the EU single market. It is therefore perfectly correct to point out that they would be at risk without it.
Sometimes something that is at risk survives anyway. Many of those jobs probably would, or else would be altered in some way to suit changing needs. But it is not credible to suggest that all of them would, and indeed there is no reason to be confident that a large proportion would remain.
As Nick Clegg rightly pointed out that week, the question is how many people you’re prepared to see lose their jobs for the sake of indulging isolationist fantasies. Three million? One million? Would 100,000 make you pause for thought?
You of course ignored Ab’s main point, which is that the benefits of EU membership go far beyond jobs, and include the flexibility to live, work and study across an entire continent, the ability to work together effectively to tackle and respond to the threat of climate change, and much, much more.
” whilst there is no denying that youth unemployment is shockingly high this is not a product of the EU but of a variety of much more national factors, such as national government”
hmmm, so nothing to do with being in an sub-optimal currency zone?
Many of those jobs probably would, or else would be altered in some way to suit changing needs. But it is not credible to suggest that all of them would, and indeed there is no reason to be confident that a large proportion would remain
Of course some new jobs would be created, too, by the sudden ability to trade with countries on terms that currently we are prevented from doing because, for example, the French want to shield their industries from extra-EU competition.
It’s not more credible to claim that the net change in jobs from leaving the EU would be negative than it is to claim the the net change would be positive: the truth is we just don’t know.
Of course, that makes leaving a risk. But staying in is a risk too. We stay in, we know pretty much where the EU is going: ever closer union. The question is: do you want to be in an ever closer union? Or are you willing to risk, and possibly lose, some jobs, in order to get out of an ever closer union?
(I must admit, for the sake of disclosure, that I am in a privileged position here: the company I work for mostly does business with the US, so my job’s pretty safe whatever.)