EU: In or out?

So recently I’ve seen loads of people confused and unsure which way to vote towards the EU referendum. As this is the topic of my dissertation and I’ve been doing tons of research I thought I’d present the pros/cons of both sides of the argument without the media bias or BS.

The reason we are actually having a referendum in the first place is because the Conservative party were receiving increasing pressures from other parties for a reform as it is argued that Britain has no had a say since 1975 (so probably long overdue)

Here are some of (I believe to be) the main arguments for leaving/staying without the political stuff on top. Most of this is based on what you believe to be true or not. Feel free to add anymore if you feel I’ve missed some

PRO LEAVE: Membership fee- Leaving the EU would result in an immediate cost saving as we would no longer contribute to the EU budget. Last year Britain paid in £13bn, and received £4.5bn worth of spending, making the total contribution £8.5bn. That’s about 7% of what the government spends on the NHS each year. The argument here is that the money saved could go into our public services and healthcare

PRO and CON; The EU is a single market in which no tariffs are imposed on imports and exports between member states. It is argued around 50% of our exports go to EU countries.

Britain risks losing some of that negotiating power by leaving the EU, but it would be free to establish its own trade agreements. So it depends on how you believe these agreements would go as to whether this is a positive/negative aspect. PRO STAY: According to the Office for National Statistics, there are 942,000 eastern Europeans, Romanians and Bulgarians working in the UK, along with 791,000 western Europeans – and 2.93m workers from outside the EU. China and India are the biggest source of foreign workers in the UK. There is a myth that immigration has cost us thousands of pounds, when in reality the net effect has been overwhelmingly positive.

There is also a myth that immigrants move to Britain for our benefits system. Whether this is true or not - it is a fact that actually the government spend x15 times more money on pensions than on Jobseekers Allowance in the UK, and so the belief that immigration creates a huge hole in our economy is false.

PRO and CON: It is said that around 3m jobs are linked to trade within the EU, BUT the uncertainty begins when these jobs ‘are not specified to be dependant on the UK being an EU member’. If trade and investment fell post-Brexit, then some of these jobs would be lost – but if they rose, then new jobs would be created. A drop in immigration would, all else being equal, mean more jobs for the people who remained, but labour shortages could also hold back the economy, reducing its potential for growth.

I ‘personally’ believe you should vote according to what you believe are the priorities of the country (and what you believe will actually happen as a result). Regardless of your opinion I’m sure that if you are a stay voter you probably aren’t scared of change, and if you are a leave voter you are probably not racist. It’s a shame that people from each side are being demonised (and just adds to the political/scare-mongering crap).

Happy Voting!